Degradation of textile dyes and 2, 6-dimethylphenol in the presence of manganese (III) porphyrin supported onto multi-walled carbon nanotubes

Date: 2014-2016 

Director project: Dr. Saeed Rayati

Project type: {Feasibility/Simulation study, Laboratory/Pilot Plant Implementation, Industrial Implementation, Engineering, Procurement, Construction, Installation, Commissioning, Other (please name)}

Project collaborator: K.N. Tossi University of Technology (KNTU)

Summary of project:

 A manganese porphyrin supported onto multi-walled carbon nanotubes (Mn(TCPP)OAc@MWCNT) The heterogeneous catalyst was characterized by powder X-ray diffraction, FT-IR, atomic absorption and UV-vis spectroscopy, field emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM) and also thermogravimetric analysis (TGA). The TGA curve shows that the nanocatalyst was thermally stable up to almost 350°C. This catalyst was found to be able to oxidize different synthetic textile dyes in aqueous media over a wide pH range at ambient temperature with tert-butyl hydroperoxide (TBHP) as the oxidant. The influence of some important parameters such as initial pH of the dye solution, temperature, and concentration of the catalyst, oxidant, and co-catalyst was inspected. Also, the ability of this heterogeneous catalyst in the oxidation of 2,6-dimethylphenol (with excellent selectivity for quinone (86%)) with TBHP in acetonitrile was evaluated. The separation and recycling of the catalyst are simple and catalyst can be used several successive cycles without a significant decrease in catalytic activity.