Improvement of Nanosized CuO-Fe2O3/cordierite System by Li2O-treatment for wastewater treatment

A mixture of 10 wt% CuO-10 wt% Fe2O3 supported on cordierite were prepared by wet impregnation. The as-prepared solids doped with Li2O (0.75-3 mol %) were calcined at 500-900 ºC. The crystalline phase, morphology, and surface area were investigated by XRD, HR-TEM and N2-adsoprtion-desorption. Moreover, their photocatalytic activities of samples calcined at 700°C on the degradation of phenol were evaluated under UV-irradiation. The catalytic activity of different solids toward H2O2 decomposition was studied. Nano-materials were used to adsorb dyes as Remazole-Red and Congo-Red from aqueous solution. The sorption process was in good agreement of pseudo-second order equation and the Langmuir equation through their adsorption kinetics and isotherms, respectively. The CuO-Fe2O3/ cordierite doped with 0.75% Li2O at 700 ºC adsorbent was found to possess the highest removal efficiency of Remazole-Red and/or Congo-Red dyes and potentially lowering capital and operational costs for practical applications. The highest removal efficiency of the anionic dyes over 0.75% Li2O at 700 ºC can be discussed by observing the appearance of new active phases as CuO, CuFe2O4 and LiCuO, decreasing the crystallite size of these active phases. 0.75 mol% Li2O has the greatest activity in H2O2 decomposition reached 700 %. This result may be related to the lowest particle size and the highest surface area of this sample, which also produced a large number of electrons donating active sites for H2O2 decomposition