Evaluation of acridine orange dye adsorption using a new epoxy resin hardener and degradation efficiency through the Fenton method

This research focuses on using the Fenton process and adsorption to treat cationic Acridine Orange dye in aqueous solutions. In the Fenton method the effects of dye concentration, H2O2/ Fe2+ ratio, pH, and reaction time are considered for the optimization of the oxidative process. The experimental results are reported in terms of the removal percentage of AO dye. The optimal reaction conditions to degrade dye from aqueous solutions were: pH 4; 1.0 mM Fe2+ and 1.0 mM H2O2. On the other hand, four more robust epoxy resins, denoted E1 through E4, were synthesized using 4-aminopyridine, 3,3-diaminobenzidine (EDAB), 4-aminobenzoyl hydrazine and polyamine, and characterized using thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR). These epoxy resins proved to be effective for the removal of AO dye from an aqueous solution at pH 10 where their adsorption behavior was in keeping with Langmuir’s adsorption model. Comparison between the adsorption and photo-Fenton oxidation process for Acridine Orange (AO) was carried out under different application conditions. Epoxy resins exhibited the maximum adsorption capacity with 980.39, 1515.2, 1694.9, and 1851.9 mg.g-1 for E1-E4 respectively at 25 °C after 1.0 h of shaking time while 81.87% of AO was completely degraded after 10 min of photo-Fenton process.