Al,Fe-pillared clays in catalytic decolorization of aqueous tartrazine solutions

Abstract

In this work Al,Fe-pillared clays (PILCs) were applied as heterogeneous catalysts in catalytic wet peroxide oxidation of tartrazine azo-dye in water. A series of Al,Fe PILCs with different Fe 3+ content were synthesized. The degree of Fe incorporation into PILCs was in accordance with the amounts of introduced Fe. The influence of Fe content and reaction temperature on the efficiency of the decolorization of tartrazine solutions was investigated. The adsorption on PILCs was almost independent on temperature and rather inefficient. The adsorption slightly increased with increasing Fe 3+ content. Simultaneous application of H 2O 2 and the Fe-containing PILCs significantly improved dye removal. Higher Fe content led to more efficient catalytic removal of the dye. Increased temperature did not affect adsorption while it drastically increased the catalytic removal of the dye. The stability and reusability of the PILC catalysts was confirmed. © 2012 Elsevier B.V.