Synthesis of of bentonite- Iron(III) oxide as photocatalyst in the photodegradation of textile dye waste

This research consisted of photocatalyst synthesis in the first year, optimization of photodegradation in the second year, and its application in the third year. In the first year, photocatalyst output has been produced to be utilized in the photodegradation process of textile dyes in the second year. The resulting photocatalyst is a bentonite-iron (III) oxide nano composite with a Zeta potential of -80.5 mV and a surface area of approximately 92 m2 / g, indicating that this composite is capable of attracting cationic dyes for subsequent degradation. The resulting nano composites also have a porosity that is much greater than that of bentonite, which will increase the adsorption and catalysis capacity. Optimization in the second year is carried out to determine the optimum conditions which include pH, photocatalyst mass, irradiation time, and initial concentration of dyes. To determine the optimum pH, an experiment using a pH range of 1 to 10. Photocatalyst masses were tested using mass variations of 50 to 350 mg over 25 mL of a 100 ppm dye solution. The irradiation time tested ranged between 1 and 7 hours, while the concentration of dyes examined was 50 to 300 ppm. From the experiments, the optimum conditions of Remazol brilliant blue photodegradation were obtained as follows: pH = 4, mass of photocatalyst 100 mg, irradiation time of 2 hours, and dye concentration of 200 ppm. The effectiveness of photodegradation is determined by comparing the percentage reduction in Remazol brilliant blue concentration by Fe2O3, bentonite, and Fe2O3-bentonite composites in UV light and in the dark. The results showed that the synthesized Fe2O3-bentonite composite was very effective in degrading these dyes with a percentage of 98.20%.