Ferrate synthesis using NaOCl and its application for dye removal

Abstract

Abstract Ferrate salt is a powerful oxidant for dye degradation. This work demonstrates a new method for degrading dyes containing Fe(vi) by synthesizing NaOCl from the electrolysis of table salt. NaOCl is then reacted with Fe(OH)3 in an alkaline condition to form ferrate. Electrolysis of table salt was successfully carried out using platinum as an anode and zinc as a cathode. The obtained ferrate was characterized by using Fourier transform infrared, UV-Vis, and X-ray diffraction spectroscopy. The ferrate solution has a maximum wavelength of 505 nm with a characteristic purple color. Furthermore, the ferrate produced was utilized to remove methylene blue (MB), remazol black blue (RBB), and methyl orange (MO) dyes with varying contact times. The degraded dyes were then analyzed using LC/MS. The results showed that ferrate was effective to remove dyes with an optimum contact time of 60 min that follows an order one reaction. In this study, MB showed a percent degradation close to 100% with the fastest decolorization rate compared with MO and RBB. This research provides new insights into the benefits of table salt as a base material for NaOCl through electrolysis for synthesizing ferrate, used in dye removal applications.