Green flexible polyurethane foam as a potent support for Fe-Si adsorbent

• Main Authors: Abdullah, A.H (Author), Ahmad, A. (Author), Choong, T.S.Y (Author), Jiman, N.N (Author), Mastuli, M.S (Author), Md. Jamil, S.N.A (Author), Othman, N. (Author)
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: MDPI AG 2019
• Subjects: Adsorption; Aromatic compounds; Chemicals removal (water treatment); Compression testing; Drying methods; Dye adsorption; Flexible foam; Flexible foams; Flexible Polyurethanes; Iron compounds; Iron silica; Methylene blue; Methylene Blue; Morphological analysis; Oil-based polyurethane foam; Palm oil; Physical interactions; Polyurethane; Polyurethanes; Reusability; Rigid foamed plastics; Silica; Silicon; Support; Supports; Thermodynamic stability; Thermogravimetric analysis; Wastewater treatment
• Online Access: View Fulltext in Publisher; View in Scopus

 This paper describes the preparation, characterisation, and potential application of flexible palm oil-based polyurethane foam (PUF) as a support for iron-silica (Fe-Si) adsorbent. Fe-Si/polyurethane composite (Fe-Si/PUC) was prepared by impregnating Fe-Si adsorbent onto the surface of PUF by using a novel immersion-drying method. Morphological analysis of Fe-Si/PUC proved that Fe-Si was successfully impregnated onto the surface of PUF. Compression test and thermogravimetric analysis were carried out to determine the flexibility and thermal stability of Fe-Si/PUC, respectively. The Fe-Si/PUC removed 90.0% of 10 ppm methylene blue (MB) from aqueous solution in 60 min. The reusability study showed that Fe-Si/PUC removed 55.9% of MB on the seventh cycle. Hence, the synthesis of Fe-Si/PUC opens up a new path of implementing palm oil-based PUF to assist in the recovery of an adsorbent for environmental clean-up. The mechanism of physical interaction during the impregnation of Fe-Si adsorbent onto PUF was proposed in this paper. © 2019 by the authors.