The role of adsorption on nanofiltration of azo dyes

The influence of osmotic pressure and solute adsorption on permeate flux during nanofiltration (NF) of a wool textile dye solution was investigated. Solutions of C.I. Acid Orange 7 with concentrations ranging from 2 to 2000 mg/l were subjected to nanofiltration with a NF 45 membrane. An increase of flux decline with dye concentration was observed. The resistance-in-series model gives evidence that the main factor causing this flux decline is the solute adsorption. This is reinforced by the increase in the apparent rejection with dye concentration. Although osmotic pressure was taken into account, its contribution to a decrease of the driving force seems not to be significant. Adsorption resistance was calculated from a correlation between the pure water fluxes, measured before and after the essays, and feed dye concentration. A Langmuir isotherm type curve agreed well with experimental data. From the solution-diffusion model, the intrinsic rejection coefficient can be predicted as function of feed dye concentration.