Assessing the efficiency of Fe:TiO2 nanoparticles in removal of Cat Blue 41 using sunlight irradiation in aqueous media using Response surface method (RSM)

Nowadays, protecting environment, especially aqueous medium is a crucial task in modern world. Because of their nature, dyes have not only negative impacts on the aesthetic aspects of the environment, but also result in serious biological and chemical side effects on the environment. Various processes have been applied for removal of dyes from effluent. The aim of this research was to assess the removal of Cat Blue 41 from aqueous media using Fe:TiO2 in the presence of sunlight. Based on a descriptive-laboratory scale experiment using RSM design experiment, the effect of independent variables of pH, nanoparticles dosage, initial dye concentration, H2O2 concentration and contact time on the photodegradation of the dye was carried out through 26 experimental run. Analysis of the proposed model was performed using ANOVA. The proposed model for the removal of dye was statistically significant at the 95 percent confidence level. The removal efficiency was function of the independent variables of nanoparticles dosage, initial dye concentration, and contact time. The photodegradation of Cat Blue 41 showed high photodegradation efficiency of Fe:TiO2 nanoparticles under sunlight irradiation. It was found that increasing the nanomaterials dosage, contact time, and H2O2 concentration results in increasing removal efficiency so that increasing nanomaterials dosage from 0.3 to 3 g/l resulted in increasing dye removal efficiency from 48.6 to 88.9% respectively. In addition, increasing pH and initial dye concentration led into reducing removal efficiency so that increasing dye concentration from 25 to 200 mg/l resulted in decreasing its removal efficiency from 69.8 to 35.5% respectively. Therefore, design of experiment suitably optimized the removal process and reducing the number of runs resulted in increasing efficiency of the pollutant removal.