Simultaneous degradation and adsorption of cyanide using modified fly Ash and TiO2/UV

• Main Authors: Shima Rezaei, Hadi Rezaei, Meghdad Pirsaheb, Saeb Ahmadi, Hooshyar Hossini
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Kurdistan University of Medical Sciences 2015-08-01
• Series: Journal of Advances in Environmental Health Research
• Subjects: adsorption; mfa-tio2/uv; cyanide; photocatalytic degradation
• Online Access: http://jaehr.muk.ac.ir/article_40203_af11ed1a5a7fabb09c0ea6fd8ec53a4c.pdf

Due to the present water shortage and environmental problems associated with industrial effluent, investigation of novel treatment technologies is an essential approach. Being a highly toxic chemical of asphyxiating characteristics, cyanide is seen as a major environmental pollutant in a wide range of industrial effluents. The present study aimed to address the adsorption and photocatalytic degradation of cyanide using activated fly ash and TiO2/UV. To investigate the removal efficiency of cyanide, two sets of experiments were designed. First, cyanide was absorbed by activated fly ash and degraded via a photocatalytic process, individually. Second, simultaneous adsorption and degradation was examined. The removal efficiency of cyanide by modified fly ash (MFA), TiO2/UV, and their combination (MFA-TiO2/UV) was 76.1%, 81%, and 86.6%, respectively. Optimal conditions for the combination of activated fly ash AFA-TiO2/UV were contact time of 6 hours, temperature of 100 °C, and AFA: TiO2 ratio (w/w) of 1:1. Under these conditions, a maximum removal rate of 92.4% was obtained when 1.2 g of MFA/TiO2 was used with a pH value of 3 in the presence of UV light. Based on the results of cyanide removal, it can be concluded that the combination of adsorption and photocatalytic degradation with MFA-TiO2/UV can be utilized to improve the removal of cyanide from wastewater.