Abstract

In the present study, the removal of direct blue 86 dye was explored via cationic surfactant enhanced ultrafiltration from aqueous phase. The effects of various parameters such as initial dye concentration, contact time, pressure, solution pH and surfactant concentration were evaluated on the process. The RSM using R software was chosen to investigate the effect of input independent factors on the dependent response (removal efficiency). The p-value (2.071 x e(-06)), F-value (7.82), R-2 (multiple R-squared: 0.6494, adjusted R-squared: 0.5663), insignificant lack of fit (0.06) indicated that the reduced full second order model was highly significant for dye removal. The maximum percentage of dye removal (92) was obtained at the optimum conditions (initial dye concentrations (25.8 mg/L), contact time (15.8 min), pressure (1.58 bar), pH = 6.16, and surfactant concentration (0.93 mg/L)). The utmost elimination efficiency was calculated to be 100, by means of regression coefficients achieved from the model and Solver 'Add-ins', respectively. The results showed that the MEUF process is very suitable for the removal of direct blue 86 dye from aqueous solutions.