Abstract:
The purification of effluents to eliminate dyes is a major challenge in wastewater treatment.
To achieve this goal, photocatalysis and adsorption were tested in this experimental study. The
objective was to study the influence of various parameters such as contact time, solution pH,
and initial dye concentration on adsorption capacity and photocatalytic degradation rate of
azucryl red. Adsorption experiments showed that the maximum adsorption capacity was
reached at a pH of 8. Kinetic analysis revealed that the pseudo-second-order model provides a
better representation of the evolution of adsorbed azucryl red over time. Additionally, the
Frendlich model was found to be the most suitable for reproducing experimental data on
adsorption equilibrium. Heterogeneous photocatalysis eliminates dyes more rapidly with
chemical catalysts such as ZnO-Cp, whereas for bio-catalysts, the maximum decoloration rate
of azucryl red is achieved with silver oxide. In conclusion, deploying these materials on a large
scale in industrial wastewater treatment plants would be interesting to test.
