Photodegradation of methylene blue and methyl orange dyes in textile industry waste using ZnO catalyst supported by natural mineral montmorillonite from South Sulawesi

Abstract

A new innovation of the utilization of South Sulawesi natural montmorillonite (MMT) as a support catalyst of ZnO for dyes photodegradation has been carried out. ZnO/MMT photocatalyst was synthesized by wet impregnation method which was then analyzed for metal oxide content, surface morphology, functional groups, and surface area. The synthesized ZnO/MMT photocatalyst was applied to the photodegradation process of methylene blue (MB) and methyl orange (MO) dyes. The results showed that the ZnO phase was a hexagonal wurtzite phase which was confirmed by the results of functional group analysis. The synthesized photocatalyst had a surface area of 131.55 m 2 /g with a pore size of 4.61 nm. The highest percentage of degradation occurred at pH 5 with a photocatalyst mass of 0.2 g for MB and MO dyes, while the irradiation time was 150 minutes for MB and 180 minutes for MO, with the percentage of degradation of 99.35±0.22% and 91.17±1.79%, respectively. Based on the effectiveness test, the ZnO/MMT photocatalyst showed extraordinary performance with an efficiency up to four cycles against MB and three cycles against MO. Thus, the ZnO/MMT photocatalyst is potential to be used for dyes degradation in textile industry waste. • Utilization of Indonesian natural MMT as ZnO catalyst support was successfully synthesized by wet impregnation method • ZnO/MMT photocatalyst has excellent degradation performance of Methylene Blue (MB) and Methyl Orange (MO) dyes • ZnO/MMT photocatalyst can be used up to four cycles against MB and three cycles against MO • ZnO/MMT photocatalyst can be applied to the processing of wastewater from Lontara batik textile industry

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