Wastewater containing emerging contaminants treated by residues from the brewing industry based on biochar as a new CuFe2O4 / biochar photocatalyst

A novel green composite catalyst was prepared by doping CuFe2O4 nanoparticles in the malt bagasse biochar. Composites with different ratios of malt biochar and CuFe2O4 were produced and characterized by XRD, FE-SEM, EDS, HR-TEM, UV-vis, and Zeta potential. The results revealed that CuFe2O4 was successfully supported on the malt biochar surface. The prepared composites showed the band gap energies were narrower than of CuFe2O4, increasing the photocatalytic activity. At 60 min of heterogeneous photo-Fenton, tests under visible light indicated CuFe2O4 removed 39 % of the rhodamine B color, while composites CFO1B3, CFO1B1, and CFO3B1 removed 88 %, 81 %, and 44 % of the dye, respectively. The recycling of the CFO1B3 composite indicated that it can be used in eight cycles without major losses in efficiency. In sunlight, the CFO1B3 composite achieved efficiencies of 100 % for 10 mg L & minus;1 and 50 mg L & minus;1 of rhodamine B at 10 and 20 min of reaction, respectively. In the proposed mechanism, it was verified that the radical center dot OH, O2 center dot & minus; and h+ were the predominant reactive species involved in the degradation to intermediates of low m/z. Results showed that the novel composite formed is a promising photocatalyst for removing organic pollutants in water. (c) 2021 Institution of Chemical Engineers. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Automated summary

A novel green composite catalyst prepared by doping CuFe2O4 nanoparticles in malt bagasse biochar exhibited enhanced adsorption and photocatalytic performance. The performance of the composite catalyst varied with different ratios of malt biochar and CuFe2O4, with CFO1B3 showing the highest photocatalytic activity and recyclability.