Facile synthesis of HKUST-1-cellulose filter for water purification from meloxicam

Abstract The main purpose of this study is designing and manufacturing a water treatment filter using metal-organic framework to remove pollutants from aqueous solutions with high efficiency. A uniform layer of the metal-organic framework was placed on cellulose filter paper. Cellulose filter paper is biodegradable, economical and its surface can be easy modifiable due to its high hydroxyl groups. For modification, a monolithic layer of the metal-organic framework was assembled on cellulose filter paper. HKUST-1 is a kind of MOFs with a porous and adjustable structure as well as having many active sites was selected for modification of cellulose filter paper for increasing the removal efficiency. The important point of this research is using very easy method to synthesis of the filter in a short time and at room temperature. HKUST-1@Filter paper was characterized by SEM, FTIR, and XRD analysis. This synthesized filter was used to remove meloxicam from the aqueous solution with a removal percentage more than 87%. To study the stability and reusability of the synthesized filter, an organic solvent was used for desorption, and it was found that the filter still remains stable and has high efficiency to remove contaminants for several times after desorption. Langmuir and Freundlich's isotherms were used to investigate the adsorption mechanism. With the equilibrium adsorption isotherm, it was found that the absorption of meloxicam followed the Langmuir model and the maximum adsorption capacity was 2500 mg g^{− 1}.