Stable and magnetically separable nanocomposite prepared from bauxite mining tailing waste as catalyst in wet peroxidation of tetracycline

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to convert bauxite mining tailing waste into magnetic nanocomposite as catalyst in catalytic wet peroxidation of tetracycline. The preparation of material was performed via hydrothermal method of immobilized iron oxide precursor of Fe2+ and Fe3+ in alkaline condition, followed by calcination. The obtained nanocomposite was characterized using X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy-energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy, transmission electron microscopy, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, and vibration sample magnetometer. The results from XRD, XPS and TEM analyses showed that the composite composed as the dispersed γ-Fe2O3 in combination with Fe3O4 nanoparticles. The catalytic activity studies of the nanocomposite showed the capability of material to remove tetracycline with supportive adsorption capability. The oxidation of tetracycline was recorded to follow pseudo-first kinetics with removal efficiency of 89.7 % for 20 ppm of tetracycline. Insignificant change of removal efficiency at varied tetracycline concentration ranging at 2–40 ppm indicated its potential to be active in wide range of concentration. In addition, the nanocomposite showed stability as studied by XRD analysis along with the easy in separation as the magnetic properties with magnetism of 9.8 emu/g.

Keywords

• Advanced oxidation process
• Catalytic wet peroxidation
• Magnetic
• Nanocomposite
• Mining waste