Cationic dyes are widely used colorants in textile and other related industries. These dyes are highly toxic for marine life and make a major fraction of the industrial effluents. In this study, we report the synthesis of ester derivative of calix[4]arene (EDC) impregnated polymer inclusion membrane (PIM) and employed it for the transfer of cationic dyes between two aqueous phases. EDC forms inclusion complex with cationic dyes having 1:1 M ratio as revealed by the Job’s plot, the log/log plot, and the Benesi-Hildebrand methods while using methylene blue (MB) as a model cationic dye. EDC was used as carrier with cellulose triacetate (CTA) as a base polymer, and 2-nitrophenyl octyl ether (2-NPOE) as a plasticizer for the synthesis of EDC-PIM. Membranes were characterized by Fourier Transform Infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM), Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM), Brunauer–Emmett–Teller (BET), and Barrett-Joyner-Halenda (BJH) analysis. The extraction performance of the synthesized PIM was optimized by varying different external parameters including pH of the donor and the acceptor phases, temperature, stirring speed, and concentration of EDC and dye while using MB as a model cationic dye. More than 90% extraction was achieved under optimized conditions which is 4.5-fold more than EDC-free-PIM. The extraction efficiency of the EDC-PIM remained similar after ten consecutive cycles that demonstrates its reusability potential in context of economical industrial applications. Finally, the synthesized EDC-PIM was used for selective extraction of other cationic dyes (basic red and nile blue) at the optimized conditions from the real industrial effluents. The extraction efficiency of the EDC-PIM was reproducible in all cases. The reusability and robustness of the EDC-PIM makes it an excellent candidate for retrieving cationic dyes from the industrial effluents.

阳离子染料被广泛用于纺织和其他相关行业的着色剂。这些染料对海洋生物有剧毒，占工业废水的很大一部分。在这项研究中，我们报告了杯芳烃[4]芳烃（EDC）浸渍的聚合物包合物膜（PIM）的酯衍生物的合成，并将其用于阳离子染料在两个水相之间的转移。如乔布斯图，对数/对数图和Benesi-Hildebrand方法所示，EDC与比例为1：1 M的阳离子染料形成包合物，同时使用亚甲基蓝（MB）作为模型阳离子染料。EDC用作载体，三乙酸纤维素（CTA）作为基础聚合物，2-硝基苯基辛基醚（2-NPOE）作为增塑剂用于EDC-PIM的合成。膜通过傅立叶变换红外光谱（FT-IR）进行表征， （BET）和Barrett-Joyner-Halenda（BJH）分析。通过使用MB作为模型阳离子染料，通过改变不同的外部参数（包括供体和受体相的pH值，温度，搅拌速度以及EDC和染料的浓度），可以优化合成PIM的萃取性能。在优化的条件下，提取率超过90％，是无EDC的PIM的4.5倍。在连续十个循环后，EDC-PIM的提取效率仍然相似，这表明在经济的工业应用中其可重复使用的潜力。最后，合成的EDC-PIM可在最佳条件下从实际工业废水中选择性提取其他阳离子染料（碱性红和尼罗蓝）。在所有情况下，EDC-PIM的提取效率都是可重现的。