Catalytic oxidative degradation of crystal violet dye using NanoCopper oxide encapsulated zeolite catalyst

Abstract

A new active zeolite supported copper catalyst was developed from coal fly ash (FA) by immobilization of copper nanoparticles. Zeolite (Zeo) was created by FA via acid and hydrothermal synthesis methods. The metal salt CuCl2 was reduced to copper nanoparticle by using (nithyakalyani) Catharanthus roseus leaf extract. The formed copper nanoparticle was encapsulated into the zeolite framework by mechanical stirring followed by calcination at 550 °C. The prepared CuO-Zeo catalyst has been defined by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), X-ray diffraction (XRD), Scanning electron microscope (SEM) and Energy dispersive X-ray (EDX) techniques. Catalytic activity of the synthesized CuO-Zeo catalyst was investigated by crystal violet dye degradation by wet catalytic method in the presence of H2O2. Effect of catalyst dosage, catalyst variation, dye content, volume of H2O2 and pH were studied. It was observed that the catalytic activity of bare Zeo is negligible and is enhanced by copper encapsulation and also the efficiency of the catalyst is tested and 95% is maintained. The work highlights the design and development of green catalyst from waste material FA.