Reactive dyes decolourization from an aqueous solution by combined coagulation/micellar-enhanced ultrafiltration process

This study was designed to investigate the removal of reactive dyes, C.I. Reactive Black 5 (RB5) and C.I. Reactive Orange 16 (RO16) using two-step, pre-treatment and micellar-enhanced ultrafiltration (MEUF). Coagulation was used as pre-treatment process and its optimum condition were identified. A cationic surfactant, cetylpyridinium chloride (CPC) was used for the MEUF and its effectiveness was investigated. Several operating conditions such as surfactant concentration and operating pressure were varied to find the optimum conditions for MEUF process. The optimum condition obtained from MEUF parameters study was used for treating the pre-treated solution obtained at pre-treatment process. Results obtained in this study shows that the combination pre-treatment and MEUF process achieved almost complete decolourization of both RB5 (99.75%) and RO16 (99.98%) from aqueous solution.