Synthesis of SnO2/M-ZLT catalyst and investigation by using sonocatalytic oxidation processes for the removal of methylene blue dye from aqueous solutions

In this study, dye removal from wastewater using sonocatalytic oxidation process and the parameters affecting the process were investigation. For this purpose, SnO2 catalyst and SnO2@M-ZLT hybrid nanocatalyst were synthesized by the sol-gel method. Zeolite mineral, SnO2 and SnO2@M-ZLT nanocatalysts, X-ray Fluorescence (XRF), X-ray diffraction (XRD), fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM) techniques and it was understood that the catalyst was successfully synthesized. Surface properties and BJH pore-size distributions of zeolite and synthesized catalysts were determined from nitrogen adsorption-desorption isotherms. The parameters affecting the sonocatalytic oxidation process in the removal of Methylene Blue (MB) dye using SnO2 and SnO2@M-ZLT nanocatalysts were examined. On the removal of dyestuffs using the SnO2@M-ZLT nanocatalyst, parameters such as initial dyestuff concentration, catalyst amount, pH effect of different catalysts on dyestuff removal, the effect of inorganic and organic radical scavengers and sonocatalytic reusability of the SnO2@M-ZLT nanocatalyst were investigated. Under the experimental conditions where the SnO2@M-ZLT catalyst was 10 g L-1 and the initial dye concentration was 10 mg L-1, the highest removal efficiency of MB was achieved at 97.40% as a result of the sonocatalytic oxidation reaction for 120 minutes. At a fixed catalyst amount of SnO2@M-ZLT of 5.0 g L-1, the highest removal efficiency at different MB concentrations was 95.05% at 5 mg L-1. The reusability of the SnO2@M-ZLT catalyst was investigation in the several consecutive studies and good performance efficiency of the catalyst was observed after 5 repeated studies.