Fabrication and photocatalytic activity of Fe3O4/SiO2/TiO2 magnetic nanoparticles removing MTBE from simulated water

Abstract

ABSTRACT The removal of methyl tertiary butyl ether (MTBE) from simulated water is going to be a critical environmental issue. The aims of the present study are to synthesise the Fe3O4/SiO2/TiO2 magnetic nanoparticles (MNPs) and evaluate its efficiency for the removal of MTBE by UV/O3/Fe3O4/SiO2/TiO2 combined process (CP) from water. The MNPs were synthesised via modified method and characterised using XRD, SEM and EDS. Then, the effects of initial ozone concentration, pH, MNP concentration, initial MTBE concentration (C0) and irradiation time were evaluated. The findings depicted that the performance of CP is better than separate processes. The optimum condition with initial ozone concentration of 150 mg/L, pH of 8, MNP concentration of 0.1 g/L and C0 of 10 mg/L at 60 min irradiation time results in maximum degradation of MTBE up to 91.65%. Also, the mineralisation rate of MTBE was achieved 68% removal at the same condition. Kinetic profile presented that the reduction of MTBE was fitted into second-order kinetics model for all the runs. The findings illustrate the capabilities of CP as a reliable technology to remove MTBE contained in water.