Novel composite films based on amidated pectin for cationic dye adsorption

Pectin, with its tendency to gel in the presence of metal ions has become a widely used material for capturing the metal ions from wastewaters. Its dye-capturing properties have been much less investigated, and this paper is the first to show how films based on amidated pectin can be used for cationic dye adsorption. In the present study amidated pectin/montmorillonite composite films were synthesized by membrane casting, and they are stable in aqueous solution both below and above pectin pKa. FTIR, thermogravimetry and SEM-EDAX have confirmed the presence of montmorillonite in the cast films and the interactions between the two constituents. In order to evaluate the cationic dye adsorption of these films Basic Yellow 28 was used, showing that the films have higher adsorption capacity compared to the others reported in the literature. The results were fitted into Langmuir, Freundlich and Temkin isotherms indicating an exothermic process and setting the optimum amount of montmorillonite in the films to 30% of pectin mass. According to the Langmuir isotherm the maximum adsorption capacity is 571.4 mg/g.