Sustainable synthesized iron oxide nanoparticles as a highly efficient material for degradation of dyes: Characterization and statistical optimization approach

Abstract

In this study, iron oxide nanoparticles (IONPs) were biosynthesized using Artemisia-herba-alba extract and employed in a heterogeneous Fenton-like process to remove Tartrazine and Nile blue A (NBA) dyes. This process was applied throughout the box Behnken design (BBD) to examine the impact of operating factors. To analyze the IONPs formed, characterization techniques including the X-ay diffraction (XRD), the Scanning electron microscopy- Energy-Dispersive X-Ray (SEM-EDX) and the Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR) are used. In this approach, an experimental design was used with three parameters including IONPs dosage (1–2 g. L⁻¹), H₂O₂ concentration (176.4–529.4 mM) and pH solution (2.5–3.5). Hence, BBD highlights the different impacts of the three crucial parameters chosen and their interactions on the degradation efficiencies of the Tartrazine (DE₁%) and the NBA (DE₂%). The optimal conditions for maximizing the degradation efficiencies are determined as 1.98 g.L⁻¹ of IONPs dosage, 518 mM of H₂O₂ and 3.14 pH of solution. Using numerical optimization by desired function, the predicted degradation efficiencies were 82.96% for the Tartrazine and 80.79% for the NBA under the optimum conditions.