Removal of aqueous organic pollutant by photo-Fenton process using low-cost Fe3O4/zeolite A

Abstract

Degradation of methylene blue (MB) in textile water treatment was investigated by using the photo - Fenton method (mixture of Fe2+ and H2O2 with the UV irradiation) in the presence of nano-sized and low-cost catalyst Fe3O4/Zeolite A. This catalyst was synthesized by impregnation method; furthermore, its photo – catalytic performances and durability in heterogeneous Fenton system were evaluated. Both the structure and the physical chemistry properties of the photocatalyst was characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscope (SEM). The study investigated the influences of different parameters of the MB decolorization efficiency such as initial concentration of peroxide attending the Fenton reaction, amounts of catalyst, pH of the dye solution and comparison of utilization of H2O2 in two cases with and without UV lamps. Under the optimum conditions which is the initial concentration of MB is 50 ppm and pH of dye solution is 3, high efficiencies of degradation were achieved – performance of 92.49%. These results suggest that the low-cost nanostructure catalyst Fe3O4/Zeolite A may be the considerable option because of the durability and the stability in the photo – Fenton reaction for organic wastewater treatment in textile industry.