Iranian Journal of

Background and Objectives: The development a low-cost and high efficiency water treatment technology to decolorize the organic dye effluents is desirable due to overwhelming discharge of organic synthetic dyes into the natural water cycle during the dying process. In this study, the decolorization of Acid Black 26, as the model organic contaminant, was investigated using immobilized nano-sized TiO2 particles as the photocatalyst. Material and Methods: Sackcloth fiber was used as a support to immobilize TiO2 nanoparticles. The structural properties of the immobilized photocatalysts were characterized by XRD and SEM. UV-Vis absorption spectroscopy and the measurement of the chemical oxygen demand (COD) were also used for the process performance studies. Moreover, we investigated the effects of the oxidant H2O2, initial dye concentration, the presence of anion and pH on the photocatalytic degradation efficiency. Results: The XRD results did not show significant changes in the structure of TiO2 as a consequence of the immobilization procedure. The formation of titania crystallites in the sackcloth fiber was confirmed by SEM. Experimental results showed that after 60 min, the degradation percentage of Acid Black 26 with the immobilized TiO2 particles was about 60%, which was higher than that with TiO2 slurry. Based on the COD results, after 3 h, the TiO2-coated sackcloth fiber effectively decomposed 94% of the organic compounds presenting in dye solution during the degradation of Acid Black 26. Conclusion: The titania nanoparticles immobilized on the sackcloth fiber can be used as an effective and environmental friendly photocatalyst in the degradation of colored wastewater.