Textile wastewater effluents yield tons of dyes that, even at low concentrations, are toxic and need to be removed before this water is disposed of in aquatic life. Methylene blue has a low degradation rate and causes severe harm to the environment even at low concentrations. Adsorption is an effective method of getting rid of these dyes. In this study sugarcane bagasse pulp, which is a waste resulting from the sugar extraction process, is examined as an adsorbent for the removal of methylene blue from textile wastewater. Batch experiments are carried out to determine the efficiency of the adsorption of methylene blue onto the sugarcane bagasse pulp surface. Seven different parameters including the adsorbent dose, temperature, initial dye concentration, contact time, pH, and adsorbent particle size are studied to determine their effect on the adsorption process; characterization of the adsorbent is carried out. Artificial neural network is used to determine the optimum conditions that give maximum efficiency. The results of this study showed that bagasse pulp is an effective adsorbent material for methylene blue removal with a maximum adsorption efficiency of 95%. Graphical abstract

The objectives of the current study are to assess and compare the performance of a developed photocatalytic membrane reactor (PMR) in treating industrial waste (e.g., organic dye waste) against membrane distillation. The current PMR is composed of a feed tank, which is a continuous stirred photocatalytic reactor containing slurry Titanium dioxide (TiO₂) particles that are activated by using ultraviolet lamp irradiation at a wavelength of 365 nm, and a poly-vinylidene flouride (PVDF) membrane cell. The experimental setup was designed in a flexible way to enable both separate and integrated investigations of the photocatalytic reactor and the membrane, separately and simultaneously. The experimental work was divided into two phases. Firstly, the PVDF membrane was fabricated and characterized to examine its morphology, surface charge, and hydrophobicity by using a scanning electron microscope, surface zeta potential, and contact angle tests, respectively. Secondly, the effects of using different concentrations of the TiO₂ photocatalyst and feed (e.g., dye concentration) were examined. It is found that the PMR can achieve almost 100% dye removal and pure permeate is obtained at certain conditions. Additionally, a kinetic analysis was performed and revealed that the photocatalytic degradation of dye follows a pseudo-first-order reaction.