The Influence of Support Materials on The Photo-Fenton-like Degradation of Azo Dye Using Continuous Nanoparticles Fixed-bed Column

This study used a continuous photo-Fenton-like method to remediate textile effluent containing azo dyes especially direct blue 15 dye (DB15). A Eucalyptus leaf extract was used to create iron/copper nanoparticles supported on bentonite for use as catalysts (E@B-Fe/Cu-NPs). Two fixed-bed configurations were studied and compared. The first one involved mixing granular bentonite with E@B-Fe/Cu-NPs (GB- E@B-Fe/Cu-NPs), and the other examined the mixing of E@B-Fe/Cu-NPs with glass beads (glass beads-E@B-Fe/Cu-NPs) and filled to the fixed-bed column. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM), zeta potential, and atomic forces spectroscopy (AFM) techniques were used to characterize the obtained particles (NPs). The effect of flow rate and DB15 concentration on the photo-Fenton-like degradation of DB15 in continuous fixed-bed systems was investigated. To optimize both studied systems, the response surface methodology using the central composite design (CCD) was used. The analysis shows that the removal efficiency for GB-E@B-Fe/Cu-NPs was 81% and for glass beads-E@B-Fe/NPs was 62.6%.