Synthesis of natural flowerlike iron-alum oxide with special interaction of Fe-Si-Al oxides derived as an effective catalyst for heterogeneous Fenton process

Abstract A novel iron-alum oxide nanomaterial was synthesized from naturally polluted water of acid sulfate soil by a hydrothermal method under microwave assistance. The characterizations (e.g., XRD, TEM, BET, FTIR, and XAS) and application of the novel iron-alum oxide nanomaterial with a flower-like morphology were also reported. For textile wastewater treatment, at the appropriate conditions for reaction (e.g., 60 min, pH 6, 8 mM of H2O2, and 0.57 g/L of material), the catalyst activity of iron-alum oxide nanomaterial was higher (~1.27 fold in COD removal and ~1.34 fold in color removal) than that of iron oxide nanomaterial in heterogeneous Fenton process. The strong interactions among iron oxide, silica, and alumina in the structure of iron-alum oxide nanomaterial were determined by XAS measurement. This strong interaction contributes to enhancing its catalyst activity for textile wastewater’s COD and color degradations. This concept would provide a new approach to design novel nanocatalysts for various reaction systems in wastewater and gas treatments.