Preparation, characterization and photocatalytic degradation of methylene blue by Fe3+ doped TiO2 supported on natural zeolite using response surface methodology

Taghvaei, Hadieh; Farhadian, Mehrdad; Davari, Nila; Maazi, Samira

doi:10.22104/aet.2018.2462.1124

Preparation, characterization and photocatalytic degradation of methylene blue by Fe3+ doped TiO2 supported on natural zeolite using response surface methodology

Document Type : Research Paper

Authors

Department of Chemical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, University of Isfahan, Isfahan, Iran

10.22104/aet.2018.2462.1124

Abstract

The photocatalytic degradation of methylene blue was investigated with TiO₂ and Fe₂O₃ nanoparticles supported on natural zeolite. The synthesized photocatalyst was characterized by XRD, XRF, FT-IR, EDX, FE-SEM, and BET analyses. The results of XRD, FT-IR, and EDX confirmed the successful loading of Fe³⁺ doped TiO₂ nanoparticles on natural zeolite. Further, the FE-SEM results confirmed the deposition of TiO₂/Fe₂O₃ on the zeolite, with the approximate particle size being 52.3 nm. According to the XRF results, the synthesized nanoparticles had Fe³⁺/TiO₂ molar ratios of 0.06 in the synthesized photocatalyst. Based on BET analysis, the surface area of TiO₂/Fe³⁺/natural zeolite was about 112.69 m²/g. The effects of operational factors such as pH (6-10), dye concentration (25-75 mg/L) and H₂O₂ concentration (10-40 mg/L) were considered and optimized via response surface methodology utilizing Box-Behnken design. The optimization results indicated that the maximum percentage of degradation was achieved at a dye concentration of 25 mg/L, initial pH of 10, and H₂O₂ concentration of 40 mg/L with a 90 min irradiation time and a 1 g/l photocatalyst concentration. The dye degradation efficiency reached 92% under this optimum condition.

Keywords

Main Subjects

Advanced oxidation processes

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