The removal of methylene blue as a remedy of dye-based marine pollution: a photocatalytic perspective

• Published in: Research on chemical intermediates Vol. 46; no. 1; pp. 755 - 768
• Main Authors: Kavil, Yasar N., Shaban, Yasser A., Alelyani, Saeed Saad, Al-Farawati, Radwan, Orif, Mohammad I., Ghandourah, Mohammed A., Schmidt, Mark, Turki, Adnan J., Zobidi, Mousa
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Dordrecht Springer Netherlands 2020; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Carcinogens; Catalysis; Chemistry; Chemistry and Materials Science; Dyes; Hydrogen production; Inorganic Chemistry; Methylene blue; Mutagens; Photocatalysis; Physical Chemistry; Pollutants; Reaction kinetics; Seawater; Sunlight; Titanium dioxide; Water pollution; Water splitting; Photocatalytic removal; Carbon modification; Methylene blue; Seawater
• ISSN: 0922-6168; 1568-5675
• DOI: 10.1007/s11164-019-03988-w

The effluents containing the discarded water from the textile industry are graded as one of the foremost pollutants in all industrial sectors. The wide varieties of dyes, which is susceptible to the possibility of carcinogens or mutagens, and it will be harmful to entire ecosystem. The titanium dioxide, one of the foremost heterogeneous semiconductor photocatalysts, has been acknowledged for the wide applications in hydrogen production from water splitting and degradation of organic and inorganic pollutants since last few decades. The present work is successively advanced for the removal of methylene blue from the seawater. The work was carried under natural sunlight with the presence of C/TiO 2 and Cu–C/TiO 2 . The photocatalytic removal experiment was carried out with different catalyst dosages (0.25–1.25 g/L), different initial concentrations from 5 to 30 µM and at different pH values (3–9). The highest removal rate was found at the optimum condition of pH 8 and 1 g/L. At the optimum condition, 100% efficiency was achieved under natural sunlight. The kinetic studies reveal the pseudo-first-order kinetics and half-life time comparison proves the enhanced visible light harvesting of Cu–C/TiO 2 .