Abstract

Camellia sinensis mediated synthesis of Iron nanoparticles and its encapsulation for decolorization of dyes

Author(s): Yadav Anu, Mendhulkar D.Vijay

Textile industry has been condemned as one of the worldÂ’s worst offenders in terms of pollution because 10-15% of all the dyes used in the industry are lost within wastewater during processing which is degrading the environment. Owing to the complex nature of synthetic dyes, conventional biological treatment methods are ineffective. Hence there exist an urgent need to develop novel treatment techniques that lead to the degradation of dye molecules from waste stream. The current study focused to phytosynthesize the Iron nanoparticles using Camellia sinensis leaf extract, its encapsulation in alginate beads for repeated use and to use it to degrade Methyl red and Methyl orange dye in an effective way. UVvisible spectra showed the maximum absorbance of 270 nm due to the excitation of surface plasmon vibrations in the FeNPs. FTIR spectrum exhibited the characteristic band at 543.63 cm-1 which indicated the Fe- O stretching of Fe2O3 nanoparticles. The XRD spectrum showed three different diffraction peaks (°2è values) corresponding to the crystal planes of crystalline Fe2O3. The average particle size of the synthesized FeNPs was 44 nm using NTA analysis. TEM study revealed that the particles were predominantly spherical in shape. The results of this study show the successful degradation of Methyl red and Methyl orange dyes using synthesized FeNPs encapsulated in calcium alginate beads. The removal of methyl red after 5 hours is greater than that of methyl orange, with more than 50% of the dye being removed. Calcium alginate was used as a green support for immobilizing the nanoparticles.