Iron Capped Spent Tea Leaves as Nano-Adsorbent for Removal of Eriochrome Black T from Aqueous Phase

Abstract

In present study, the removal of Eriochrome black T dye by iron nanoparticles prepared through tea leaves extract has been investigated. Synthesized iron capped nanoparticles were characterized by FTIR spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction (XRD), high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HR-TEM) and field emission gun scanning electron microscopy (FEG-SEM) with EDAX. The X-ray diffraction patterns revealed that iron nanoparticles exhibited an amorphous nature. Scanning electron microscopy exhibited clearly spherical shape of iron nanoparticles. The transmission electron microscopy (HR-TEM) of iron nanoparticles shows the particle size in the range of 30-40 nm. Further, the degradation of Eriochrome black T dye was studied. To obtain the optimal conditions for the dye degradation, the effect of various experimental parameters, like the proportion of adsorbent, pH, the concentration of dye and contact time on the rate of reaction was studied. Adsorptions of Eriochrome black T dye follow pseudo-first-order kinetics. It was found that the dye degradation showed best results in the presence of sunlight at a pH of 3, Eriochrome black T dye concentration 50 ppm with 0.60 g of adsorbent. At 29 ± 1 ºC, the maximum removal of dye was achieved within 90 min.