Removal of Methylene Orange and Procion Blue with Integrated Adsorption-Photocatalytic Method

Abstract

One of the non-biodegradable organic contaminants is methylene orange and procion blue. These dyes contain benzene groups that are very difficult to degrade, carcinogenic and mutagenic. Therefore, adsorption-photocatalytic method is used to reduce the concentration of these dyes. TiO2 as a photocatalyst was introduced into a natural zeolite of Sukabumi as adsorbent will resulting adsorption-photocatalytic property. Synthesis of TiO2-Zeolite composite has been performed with a ratio 40:60 (% w/w). Initial concentration, variation of pH, condition and source of irradiation were studied. XRD and FTIR characterization results show that TiO2 is successfully introduced into the zeolite. Optimum photocatalytic activity at dye concentration of 100 ppm with pH 4, UV light irradiation 11 watt and 17 cm penetration distance, resulted percentage degradation were 32,2% and 54,7% for methylene orange and procion blue respectively. Based on the calculation, the dissolved CO2 concentration resulting from the photocatalytic process of methylene orange is 0,589 ppm and procion blue is 0,687 ppm.