Abstract
The degradation of methyl tert-butyl ether (MTBE) was investigated in the aqueous solution of coated ZnO onto magnetite nanoparticale based on an advanced photocatalytic oxidation process. The photocatalysts were synthesized by coating of ZnO onto magnetite using precipitation method. The sample was characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and vibration sample magnetometer (VSM). Besides, specific surface area was also determined by BET method. The four effective factors including pH of the reaction mixture, Fe3O4/ZnO magnetic nanoparticles concentration, initial MTBE concentration and molar ratio of [H2O2]/ [MTBE] were optimized using response surface modeling (RSM). Using the four-factor-three-level Box–Behnken design, 29 runs were designed considering the effective ranges of the influential factors. The optimized values for the operational parameters under the respective constraints were obtained at PH of 7.2, Fe3O4/ZnO concentration of 1.78 g/L, initial MTBE concentration of 89.14 mg/L and [H2O2]/ [MTBE] molar ratio of 2.33. Moreover, kinetics of MTBE degradation was determined under optimum condition. The study about core/shell magnetic nanoparticles (MNPs) recycling were also carried out and after about four times, the percentage of the photocatalytic degradation was about 70%.
Highlights
Methyl tert-butyl ether (MTBE) is commercially used as an octane enhancer for gasoline
The instruments used for studying synthesized nanoparticles were X-ray diffraction (XRD) (Equinox 3000, Inel france), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) (AIS2100, seron technology), BET (Autosorb-1, Quantachrome), 2 lamps (UVa 11W, Philips, Netherland), gas choromatography (GC) equipped with a helium ionization detector (HID) (Model GC-Acme 6100, Korea), vibration sample magnetometer (VSM, Meghnatis Daghigh Kavir Co., Iran), magnetic stirrer (Dalahan Labtech, LMS-1003) and digital pH meter (Elmetron, Cpc-501)
Fe3O4/ZnO nanoparticles were successfully synthesized with average crystal size of 11.2 mm by precipitation method
Summary
Methyl tert-butyl ether (MTBE) is commercially used as an octane enhancer for gasoline. It can reach underground water resources in different ways such as leaking underground fuel tanks, leaking pipelines, tank overfilling, faulty construction at gas stations, spillage from vehicle accidents and home owner releases may result in contamination of ground and surface water resources [1,2]. The toxicity of MTBE to animals and humans is well documented. It is well known that MTBE is carcinogenic to animals, which is due to diverse properties such as the existence of ether bond and long sub-branches (more than one carbon) in its structure.
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