Synthesis of magnetite iron pumice composite for heterogeneous Fenton-like oxidation of dyes

The removal of two dyes, namely Methylene Blue (MB) and Reactive Brillant Red (RR) from aqueous solution was investigated using magnetite iron coated pumice (MIP) composite in the Fenton-like oxidation process. A weight ratio of 2.5 g (with the molar ratio of Fe3+ to Fe2+ to be 2) (5%) of iron to the total pumice (50 g) was enabled during synthesis of catalyst. Surface composition and characteristics of the catalyst were assessed by SEM-EDX, FT-IR, Raman spectral analysis. The effect of the amount of pumice solely used or MIP, H2O2 concentration, pH and initial concentration of MB or RR dyes on Fenton-like process efficiency was investigated. EDAX spectrums of pumice and MIP showed that oxygen and silisium are the major elements. The Fe content of MIP increased to 2.24%. SEM, FT-IR and Raman spectrums confirmed the impregnation of Fe on pumice surface. The experimental results revealed that high removal rates of dyes could be obtained using MIP that demonstrated a higher stability for removal of MB dye. pH affected the removal efficiency of both dyes and the degradation of both dyes was sharply dropped when pH was increased above 4. The removal of dyes did not significantly change with increasing H2O2 concentration. Degradation rates of both MB and RR dyes increased 3.3 and 2.8 times with the use of MIP compared to pumice alone, respectively. Furthermore, MIP enabled a good removal efficiency at higher dye concentrations. It can be emphasized that MIP composite can be used in the heterogeneous Fenton-like systems considering the economic and easily separation aspects.