Degradation of Acid Red 18 in an aqueous environment by TiO2/Zeolite nano photocatalyst

Abstract

In this study, the TiO2 nanoparticles were supported on Y-type zeolite as a new photocatalyst and used to degrade Acid Red 18 in aqueous media. The nano photocatalyst was synthesized by coprecipitation procedure and characterized by Fourier transfer infrared (FTIR), field emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM), and X-ray powder diffraction (XRD). The central composite design (CCD) was employed for experimental design. The effect of operative variables including contact time, photocatalyst dosage and pH were investigated. The ANOVA (analysis of variance) studies displays the second-order regression model and a high determination coefficient value (R2 = 0.9953, R2pred = 0.9642, R2adj = 0.9910) for the destruction of AR18 was obtained. The contour plots were applied to study the shares of each variable and their interactions on the degradation of AR18. The optimal circumstances predicted by the model were as the following: the catalyst concentration at 0.88g/L, pH at 6.5, and contact time in 125 min. In this situation, the predicted and actual dye removal were 98.5% and 96.3%, respectively. The removal of COD (chemical oxygen demand) after 125 min was 53% indicating, the notable performance of photocatalyst in mineralization of AR18.

Keywords

• tio2/zeolite photocatalyst
• y-type zeolite
• acid red 18
• central composite design
• co-precipitation method