Synthesis of Iron Oxide Nanoparticles and Its Nanocomposite for Dye Removal

In this study, α-Fe2O3 nanoparticles (α-Fe2O3 NPs) and its composite with wood sawdust (α-Fe2O3/SD NC) were synthesized using co-precipitation method and then were used as adsorbents for dye removal from aqueous solution. Reactive Red 195 (single azo dye) was used as a test probe in this study. Adsorption studies were carried out in batch system. In order to find out the optimum removal conditions, the effect of some important parameters such as pH, initial concentration dye, contact time, temperature, adsorbent dosage and etc onto sorption capacities of the adsorbent were investigated. Equilibrium adsorption data were treated using Freundlich and Langmuir equations. The results indicated that the adsorption capacity of α-Fe2O3 and α-Fe2O3/SD nanocomposite for dye removal were 59.17 and 29.67 mg/g, respectively. Pseudo first and Pseudo second order kinetics were used for kinetic investigation. The results showed that sorption process follows the Langmuir isotherm and Pseudo-second-order kinetic model for α-Fe2O3. The isotherm studies revealed that the equilibrium adsorption data obtained for α-Fe2O3/SD adsorbent fitted better with Freundlich model and the adsorption kinetics is also followed by the Pseudo-first order model.