Fenton-like degradation of direct blue dye using green synthesised Fe/Cu bimetallic nanoparticles

Abstract

This study relates to synthesis of bentonite-supported iron/copper nanoparticles through the biosynthesis method using eucalyptus plant leaf extract, which were then named E-Fe/Cu@B-NPs. The synthesised E-Fe/Cu@B-NPs were examined by a set of experiments involving a heterogeneous Fenton-like process that removed direct blue 15 (DB15) dye from wastewater. The resultant E-Fe/Cu@B-NPs were characterised by scanning electron microscopy, Brunauer–Emmet–Teller analysis, zeta potential analysis, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy and atomic force microscopy. The operating parameters in batch experiments were optimised using Box–Behnken design. These parameters were pH, hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) dosage, E-Fe/Cu@B-NP dosage, initial DB15 concentration and temperature. The results showed that 94.32% of 57.5 mg/l DB15 was degraded within 60 min with an optimum hydrogen peroxide dosage of 7.5 mmol/l, an E-Fe/Cu@B-NP dosage of 0.55 g/l, a pH of 3.5 and a temperature of 50°C. The kinetic study indicated that the DB15 degradation kinetics fit the second-order kinetic model, and the thermodynamic factors proved that the process is non-spontaneous, endothermic and endergonic with an activation energy E a of 62.961 kJ/mol.