Eco-Friendly Degradation of Textile Azo Dye Reactive Orange ME2RL Using Pseudomonas stutzeri-Mediated Iron Oxide Nanoparticles

The discharge of synthetic azo dyes from textile industries poses serious environmental and health risks because of their genotoxic, mutagenic, and carcinogenic nature. In the present study, eco-friendly iron oxide (Fe₂O₃) nanoparticles were biosynthesized using Pseudomonas stutzeri and ferric chloride as a precursor under ambient conditions and were applied for the degradation of the textile dye Reactive Orange ME2RL. The synthesized nanoparticles were characterized using UV–Visible spectroscopy, FTIR, SEM, HRTEM, and DLS, confirming the formation of stable nanoscale Fe₂O₃ particles. The nanoparticles exhibited efficient catalytic activity, achieving nearly 80% degradation of Reactive Orange ME2RL within 45 min. The degradation pathway and the formation of intermediate metabolites were confirmed using UV–Visible spectroscopy, FTIR, HPLC, and GC–MS analyses. Furthermore, phytotoxicity and fish toxicity assays indicated reduced toxicity of the degradation products. These results demonstrate that biosynthesized Fe₂O₃ nanoparticles offer a rapid, efficient, and environmentally sustainable approach for the remediation of azo dye-contaminated textile wastewater.