Evaluating oil removal by amphiphilic MoS₂/cellulose acetate fibrous sponge in a flow-through reactor and by artificial neural network

The amphiphilic Janus-like molybdenum disulfide/cellulose acetate (MoS₂/CA) fibrous sponges were synthesized and employed to remove oil from wastewater. The efficiency of treating 100 L of emulsion containing 10 mg/L of oil by MoS₂/CA fibrous sponge in a one-pass flow-through reactor was examined under different flow rates, pH, and temperature conditions. The oil concentrations in the treated effluent were all below the industrial discharge requirement of 5 mg/L. The spent sponges were successfully regenerated and reused in multiple cycles. It was found that the adsorption of oil followed the Langmuir adsorption isotherm (R² = 0.988) and pseudo-second-order kinetic (R² = 0.995). The hydrophobic/oleophilic MoS₂ component of the MoS₂/CA sponges was responsible for oil removal while its hydrophilic CA component allowed the material to be stable in the water. Artificial neural networking (ANN) was developed to optimize oil removal. The trained ANN was used to predict the oil removal of two new conditions. This study proved that our Janus-like MoS₂/CA sponge was both surfaces active and amphiphilic so can reach the targeted oil droplets in water. These findings provided the basis for the development of an efficient material that can treat large volumes of dilute oil-containing wastewater for water reuse.