Kinetic modeling for dye removal using polyelectrolyte enhanced ultrafiltration.

A generalized kinetic model is proposed for the first time for dye removal using polyelectrolytes in application of polyelectrolyte enhanced ultrafiltration. Three polyelectrolyte-dye systems, reported in the literature have been taken up for case studies. Different cases, namely, nature of dye and polyelectrolyte system and their concentration, effect of solution pH and electrolyte concentration have been included in the general framework of the modeling. The equilibrium constants are evaluated by minimizing the errors involved in the measured and experimental values of dye retention data. The matching between the calculated and the experimental data is found to be adequate. A general phase space analysis involving the equilibrium constants has also been carried out to determine the region of feasible solution, in order to facilitate dye removal using engineered polyelectrolyte.