Degradation of the dye methyl orange using cow and goat milk iron nanoparticles

Abstract

Environmental pollution is a global issue, and the contamination of water by dyes is a matter of concern. This work reports an environmentally friendly method for degrading methyl orange dye using iron nanoparticles (INPs) synthesized from pasteurized cow and goat milk and ferric chloride (FeCl3). INPs were synthesized using FeCl3 and milk mixed in a 1:2 (v/v) ratio and subsequently heated at 70 0C. The formation of INPs was monitored by visualizing the color changes. The synthesized NPs were characterized by FTIR, SEM, EDS, TEM, XRD, and XPS. The XRD results showed that INPs were formed and had an amorphous structure. TEM data showed smaller semi-spherical particles with sizes of 8-27 nm, and they were present in an aggregated state. Dye degradation studies were conducted using INP with UV light exposure and H2O2 addition. Both the processes were monitored using UV/Vis scans at different time intervals. The results showed that the degradation of methyl orange was faster in the presence of H2O2 (over 85% efficiency in 60 min) than in the presence of UV light. The current study shows that the INPs formed using milk have the potential to be used as catalysts in azo dye degradation reactions.