Metronidazole Degradation from Contaminated Water Using TiO2/Fe2O3/Clinoptilolite Nanophotocatalyst

In this study, TiO2/Fe2O3/zeolite as catalyst was synthesized by co-precipitation method. Synthesized catalyst was characterized by XRD, XRF, FT-IR and FE-SEM analysis. XRD and FT-IR analysis confirmed the presence of TiO2 and Fe2O3 on the zeolite surface. FE-SEM photographs indicated that TiO2 and Fe2O3 nanoparticles deposited on zeolite surface and the size of nanophotocatalyst was approximately 45nm. The investigation of the synthesized catalyst was performed for metronidazole removal from contaminated water and results were analyzed by response surface methodology (RSM). Results indicated that at optimal conditions containing of metronidazole concentration (100mg/L), pH (4), radiation time (90min), nanophotocatalyst concentration (1g/L) and hydrogen peroxide concentration (50mg/L), the contaminant degradation efficiency was about 70%.