Preparation and Characterization of Magnetic Banana Peels Biochar for Fenton Degradation of Methylene Blue

Abstract

Co-precipitation method was used for the synthesis of biochar/Fe3O4 to heterogeneously degrade methylene blue (MB) in an aqueous medium. This catalyst was characterized by different techniques such as Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR) Spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction (XRD), Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM), Energy Dispersive X-ray Spectroscopy (EDX) and Raman Microscopy. The analysis highlighted the presence of iron oxides on the surface of the biochar in the form of magnetite (Fe3O4). Catalytic tests performed on this composite showed significant degradation and simple magnetic separation in the solution for reuse. Maximum degradation was carried out after stirring it for 90 minutes in a MB aqueous solution at different concentrations. The percentages of degradation were 99% and 98.6% 93.3% and 91% for concentrations of MB 40 mg/L and 60 mg/L, 80 mg/L and 120 mg/L respectively. The reactions followed a second-order kinetics with correlation coefficients r2 = 0.9598, 0.9247, 0.9548 and 0.9614 for the same concentrations of MB at pH = 2, 0.2 mL/L H2O2 and 15 mg of biochar/Fe3O4. This work provides a simple and an effective method for the preparation of biochar/Fe3O4 and its use for the oxidation of MB by means of heterogeneous Fenton.