Facile synthesis of iron oxide nanoparticle and synergistic effect of iron nanoparticle in the presence of sunlight for the degradation of DOM from textile wastewater

Abstract

Abstract This study explores the capacity of synthesized Fe2O3 nanoparticles (NPs) under sunlight for the degradation of dissolved organic matter (DOM) from synthetic (Procion blue dye) solution as well as from textile wastewater (TWW). Fe2O3 NPs were properly synthesized and confirmed by UV absorbance, FTIR spectra and SEM image analysis. Photocatalytic degradation of DOM from TWW and synthetic solution was performed by catalyst Fe2O3 NPs (5 mg/L) in the presence of solar irradiation (up to 40 h). The DOM degradation of the TWW and synthetic solution has been analyzed by fluorescence 3D excitation emission matrix (3D EEM). Synergistic effect was expected and it was found that the rate of decrease of fluorescence intensity increased with time. Within 20 h, for the synthetic solution, reduction of fluorescence intensity (80%) reaches an equilibrium. In contrast, the rate of decrease in the fluorescence intensity is highest (91%) in 40 h of irradiation for TWW. This reduction of fluorescence intensity indicates the degradation of DOM and can be expressed well by second-order model kinetics. Reduction of TOC, BOD5 and COD load again validated the degradation of DOM from TWW by catalyst Fe2O3 NPs-induced solar irradiation. We applied the treated wastewater on the plant to observe the reusability of the treated TWW, and the morphological data analysis of the plant demonstrates that the catalyst Fe2O3 NPs-induced solar-irradiated wastewater exhibits less adverse impact on plant morphology.

Keywords

• Iron nanoparticle
• Textile wastewater
• 3D EEM