LAUSR

Abstract Polypropylene (PP) nonwoven fabric was modified by grafting of β-cyclodextrin using a pad-dry-cure process. Citric acid and sodium hypophosphite were used as crosslinking agent and catalyst, respectively. To improve the wettability and loading of β-cyclodextrin in the grafting process, oxygen plasma pretreatment was employed. FTIR, SEM, and EDX analyses confirmed the grafting of β-CD on PP fibers. Plasma treatment time, β-cyclodextrin concentration, curing temperature, and curing time were chosen as the main process variables and the effect of each variable on weight gain (%) of the samples and their ability to remove a cationic dye (C.I. Basic Blue 3) from water was investigated. Plasma treatment time of 5 min, β-cyclodextrin concentration of 15%, curing temperature of 150 °C, and curing time of 10 min were found to be the optimum conditions for obtaining the maximum weight gain (38.79%) and dye removal efficiency (88.72%). The effect of different parameters including pH, time, temperature, initial concentration of the dye, and amount of adsorbent on the dye removal efficiency of the prepared adsorbent was investigated and the isotherm and kinetics of the process was studied. It was indicated that the removal of Basic Blue 3 from aqueous media using the prepared adsorbent was best fitted to Freundlich isotherm and Pseudo-second order kinetic models.