Methylene Blue Adsorption by Fe₃O₄ Nanoparticles: An Optimization Study Using Response Surface Methodology

Abstract

Water coloring has the properties of resistance to mutagenic, toxic, aggressive, carcinogenic, destructive, strong light and unstable oxidation and air pollution and has serious effects on environmental systems and human health. Because of its severe toxicity, methylene blue (MB) can cause cancer, mutagenesis, and teratogenic consequences in people as well as enter the food chain. The main objective of this investigation is to study the modeling and the optimization parameters of MB adsorption using a low‐cost adsorbent Fe3O4. The parameters evaluated for adsorption are the adsorbent dosage, pH, contact time, and temperature using the response surface methodology. The principal variables affecting MB removal were pH (3–11), catalyst dosage (0.01–0.3 g), contact duration (10–180 min), and temperature (25–55 °C). To select an experimental domain, a preliminary study was performed first. The results showed that at pH 10, 1.4 g L−1 Fe3O4‐nanoparticles (NPs) had the highest removal efficiency of cationic dye MB (20 ppm) from aqueous solutions by batch adsorption technique. The pseudo‐second‐order (PSO) kinetic models and the Langmuir isotherm provided the best fit for the adoption of MB. The adsorption process was exothermic and spontaneous, according to thermodynamics studies. To determine the effect of the investigated variables and their interaction on the adsorption process, a Box–Behnken design was used. A second‐order polynomial equation was used to model the experimental results. The experimental findings were consistent with the suggested model as demonstrated by the high value of the determination coefficient. The performance of the model equation verified the experimental observation with just a slight divergence, and the values acquired from the experiment and model predictions were found to be in suitable agreement. According to the numerical optimization, 98.61 % is the optimal elimination efficiency for MB adsorption. These results suggest that an adsorption process utilizing Fe3O4 NPs is efficient in environmental remediation.