Effect of thermal treatment on the catalytic activity of a Fe-rich bentonite for the photo-Fenton reaction

The objective of this work was to evaluate the degradation of rhodamine B dye from aqueous solution by photo-Fenton reaction under visible irradiation using a Fe-rich bentonite as a catalyst. The material was thermally treated at a low temperature (200 °C) and characterized by XRD, N₂ adsorption-desorption isotherms, FTIR, SEM-EDS and XRF. Iron leaching in aqueous solution after the photo-Fenton reaction was evaluated by atomic absorption spectroscopy. The material exhibited a mesoporous structure, containing a specific surface area of 99 m² .g^-1. The catalytic results showed significant dye degradation, reaching 95% of decolorization and 72% of mineralization at 300 min of reaction. The catalyst showed high chemical stability in four reaction cycles. Therefore, this thermally treated Fe-rich bentonite can be considered as a promising catalyst in the heterogeneous photo-Fenton reaction for the degradation of rhodamine B from aqueous solution. (author)