Cerium-Biochar composite for the adsorptive and oxidative removal of Sunzol Black dye from aqueous solutions

Abstract

The toxicity of industrial dyes in water being a major concern due to their high levels of contamination is a pressing issue. We studied the potential of a mesoporous Cerium/Biochar (nZVCe/BC) Corn extract composite to remove Sunzol Black (SB) dye from water. Advanced physical techniques were used to characterize the composite and found that it had a very high crystallinity surface area. The morphology and structure of the newly synthesized composite were thoroughly studied through, Fourier–Transform Spectroscopy (FTIR), Scanning electron microscopy (SEM), Energy Dispersive X-Ray (EDX), and Brunner–Emmett-Teller (BET). The morphology of the newly synthesized nanocomposite (nZVCe/BC) appeared to be highly dispersed and uniform. To increase its removal efficiency, to investigate the catalytic potential of the composite with hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) and found that the OH radical generated by this process significantly enhanced the degradation of SB. The degradation of SB was hindered by the presence of hydroxyl radical scavengers. Using a combination of H2O2 and Ce/BC, the removal of SB increased from 65 to 85% after 90 min when [Ce]⁰, [SB], and [H2O2] were set to 0.5 g/L, 10, and 40 ppm, respectively. This was attributed to the hydroxyl radical, which has a high degree of reactivity. The synthesized Ce nanocomposite had a high surface area (16.82 m2/g) and achieved 63 % removal of SB dye within 85 min, when the starting concentrations of Ce and SB were 0.5 g/L and 10 parts-per-million (ppm), respectively. The impact of the pH of an aqueous solution on the removal of SB through photocatalytic processes was studied. It was found that the degradation of SB was hindered at both highly alkaline and highly acidic pH levels. The results showed that almost 90% of the SB was removed. Additionally, the removal pattern of SB was determined and the nature of the degradation products was identified.