Application of heterogenous catalyst of tris(1,10)-phenanthroline iron(II) loaded on zeolite for the photo-Fenton degradation of methylene blue

A heterogeneous photo-Fenton catalyst was prepared using the complex tris(1,10)-phenanthroline iron(II) loaded on the NaY type of zeolite. The catalyst displayed a feature of the photo-Fenton degradation of methylene blue, and a linear relationship between ln(C(0)/C(t)) and reaction time was obtained, indicating the kinetic characteristics of a pseudo first-order reaction. The repeated cyclic experiments showed that the heterogeneous catalyst was stable and recoverable. Compared with the traditional homogeneous Fenton reagent, the heterogeneous catalyst has the advantage in the neutral or weakly basic medium used because the active component tris(1,10)-phenanthroline iron(II) is a stable chelate compound. The photo-Fenton degradation pathway for methylene blue was given based on the mass spectral data.