Since textile industry is the greatest consumer of water, it generates large quantities of effluents. The advanced methods of
water treatment present a great potential in terms of wastewater reuse for irrigation. Heterogeneous photocatalysis is a
promising technique to mortify the dye residues from textile effluent. In this study, Fe3+ doped ZnO has been synthesized
through microwave assisted sol-gel method. The crystallinity and elemental composition of fabricated material was determined
by X-ray diffraction (XRD). Two-dimensional disc shaped morphology of photocatalyst has been examined by scanning
electron microscopy (SEM) of Fe+3 doped ZnO. Diffused reflectance spectroscopy confirmed its high photocatalytic activity
in solar range on reduction of band gap from 3.2 to 2.8 eV after doping. The characterized Fe+3 doped ZnO samples have been
used to degrade RB5 dye on irradiating with artificial sunlight (D65). The reaction parameters i.e. initial dye and oxidant
concentration, pH and irradiation time have been optimized by Response surface methodology (RSM). The extant of dye
degradation has been evaluated by UV/vis and FTIR spectroscopy. The maximum degradation up to 98.32 % in 3 h was
achieved on using ZnO doped with 5 mM of Fe+3 under optimized conditions. The phytotoxicity of treated and untreated
effluent on length of root and shoot of spinach in addition to yield was measured. The remarkable increase in vegetative growth
of plants was observed on using treated textile effluent.
Ambreen Rafiq, Ijaz Ahmad Bhatti, Asif Ali Tahir, Munir Ashraf, Haq Nawaz Bhatti, Muhammad Anjum Zia . (2019) SOLAR PHOTOCATALYTIC TREATMENT OF TEXTILE EFFLUENT FOR ITS POTENTIAL REUSE IN IRRIGATION, , Volume 56, Issue 4.
