Optimization of photocatalytic degradation of methylene blue dye using titanate nanotube

Titanate nanotubes were evaluated for photocatalytic depletion of methylene blue (MB) dye under UV radiation in a cylindrical reactor. Titanate has been prepared using the method of hydrothermal treatment where the precursors are TiO2 and NaOH. Transmitting electron microscopy (TEM) and x-ray diffraction (XRD) were used to characterize the prepared nanotubes. The effect of some parameters was examined. It was shown that removing the dye is effective: dye initial concentration 5 to 10 ppm, dosage of catalyst 0.25 to 0.50 g catalyst/l of the solution, and mixture pH 1.4 to 12.6. A total of 17 runs have been designed to take into account the effective ranges of the effective variables using the experimental Box–Behnken technique. Two polynomial models were tailored to the experimental outputs created by the response surface methodology, demonstrating a functional correlation between MB’s percent degradation and experimental parameters. Design Expert program V.6.0.7 was utilized to maximize the reaction rate of the experimental parameters. The optimum parameter values were initial concentration of MB 5.45 ppm, a dose of TiO2 0.50  g  /  l, and pH of the mixture 11.89. Under these conditions, the percentage of degradation of MB was 99.0995%.