Degradation studies of paracetamol using novel Fe-TiO2 composite

Abstract

A novel composite Fe-TiO2 was made by mixing fly ash (FA), foundry sand (FS), and, Bentonite clay in required amounts. This composite acts a surface for immobilizing the TiO2 (using dipcoating method) besides facilitates leaching of iron (FA and FS). leached iron promotes the photo-Fenton (with the presence of H2O2 in the system) while surface active TiO2 layer lead to photocatalysis. Degradation of paracetamol was acquired by dual process combining photocatalysis and photo-Fenton happening at same place and same time. This dual process showed best results of 96.6% degradation at optimized conditions i.e. H2O2 dose (525mg/L), number of beads (80), degradation time (215 minutes), volume (200 mL). The enhancement of degradation and decrease in degradation time over first order rate constant (k) was achieved. To be sure, even a couple of overlay augments in 'k' value was seen by using novel Fe-TiO2 composite for the paracetamol degradation confirming in-situ impact. The stability of catalyst was confirmed by several characterizations like XRD and SEM/EDAX. Moreover mineralization of paracetamol included nitrate, nitrite, total iron estimation, and products formed during degradation were confirmed by GC-MS analysis.