Optimization of activated carbon modified with titanium dioxide composite preparation for adsorption/photodegradation of malachite green dye removal

Abstract

In this study, a microwave-assisted sol-gel method was used to synthesis AC/TiO2 composite for the application as adsorption/photodegradation of Malachite Green (MG) dye. In this work, Central Composite Design (CCD) in Response Surface Methodology (RSM) was applied to optimize the synthesis preparation condition of AC/TiO2 composite. The key input factors in this optimization process were microwave power (A: 400 – 800 W), microwave time (B: 10 – 20 min) and activated carbon (AC) dosage (C: 0.1 – 0.5 g). Based on ANOVA analysis, optimized percentage removal of MG dye (91.54 %) was obtained by applying optimum preparation variables of 400 W of microwave power, 10 minutes of microwave time and 0.5 g of AC dosage. The regression analysis with an R2 value of 0.9579 indicates good agreement between the experimental results and the predictive values. The results of this study show that the prepared AC/TiO2 composite substantially enhanced the adsorption/photodegradation of MG dye removal in aqueous solution under UV light.