UV-Visible Spectrometric Study and Micellar Enhanced Ultrafiltration of Alizarin Red S Dye

Ultraviolet spectrometric study of alizarin red S (ARS) showed the substantial change in dye spectra by cationic CTAB as compared to anionic SDS and nonionic TX-100 surfactant. High spectral change by CTAB confirms the anionic nature of ARS dye and thus ARS-CTAB complex formation takes place due to electrostatic force of attraction. A little spectral change by SDS is the result of similarly charged repulsive forces that overcome weak hydrophobic-hydrophobic interaction between dye and surfactant micelles. TX-100 exhibited moderate spectral effect responsive to weak hydrophobic-hydrophobic interaction alone. MEUF study of ARS dye justified the spectral changes and dye rejection percentage (R) decreases in the following order: cationic > nonionic > anionic surfactant. Permeate flux (J) slightly decreases in presence of CTAB and it remains virtually constant for both SDS and TX-100. Addition of copper salt (i.e., CuCl₂) in dye-CTAB complex solution, favors rejection (%) removing dye and copper simultaneously via micellar enhanced ultrafiltration.