Investigating the Role of Boron Doping in Enhancing the Catalytic Activityof Aematite for Fenton Oxidative Treatment of Tannery Wastewater:Parameters Optimisation through Response Surface Methodology

Abstract

Boron doped hematite catalysts 10%B-90% α-Fe 2 O 3 (10BH) and 5%B-95% α-Fe 2 O 3 (5BH) were synthesized and characterized using XRD, BET and SEM techniques. Central composite design (CCD) matrix and response surface methodology (RSM) were applied to design experiments for evaluating the interactive effects of four operating variables [peroxide dosage (600-1200 mg/l), catalyst dosage (10-50 mg/l), pH (3-8), and reaction time (10-300 mins)] on the percentage COD reduction of tannery wastewater with initial COD of 1200 mg/l. RSM showed that the BH catalyst had better percentage COD reduction of 83% at optimum parameter values of 600 mg/l, 35 mg/l, 8 and 90 minutes for peroxide dosage, catalyst dosage, pH and time respectively. 71% COD reduction was achieved with the 5BH catalyst at optimum parameter values of 600 mg/l, 35 mg/l, 8 and 90 minutes for peroxide dosage, catalyst dosage, pH and time respectively. This study clearly showed that boron doping increased the catalytic activity of hematite as a catalyst in the Fenton oxidation system.