Natural aluminosilicate nanocomposites for the catalytic degradation of organic dye via reduction or oxidation process/ Annilyn N. Cerencio and Marron C. Payosalan .--

Thesis (undergraduate)

College of Science .-- Bachelor of Applied Science major in Laboratory Technology: Technological University of the Philippines, 2019.

Includes bibliography.

The applicability of green synthesized copper and silver nanoparticles incorporated in
natural clinoptilolite-mordenite zeolite and montmorillonite bentonite using pineapple juice
extract as an environmentally and economically friendly adsorbent for the removal of
hazardous methylene blue dye from wastewater was evaluated. Catalytic experiments
showed efficiency of the catalysts in the process of complete oxidation and reduction, the
approach of adsorption coupled with catalytic degradation was applied for the highly
efficient removal of methylene blue by using natural aluminosilicate nanocomposites.
H2O2 was added to initiate the catalytic oxidation process and NaBH4 for the reduction
process. Degradation process in the presence of H2O2, finally leading to the complete
removal of pollutants without the requirement of more adsorbents.
Pseudo-second-order equation fitted the experimental data well for pure zeolite and
copper zeolite nanocomposite and the adsorption of silver zeolite, pure bentonite, copper
bentonite and silver bentonite nanocomposites follows the pseudo first-order kinetics. Based
on the SEM results the value of the adsorption capacity reveals that the natural
aluminosilicate nanocomposites are efficient. The results have proven that the adsorbent
nanocomposites materials can be effectively employed for the removal of the dye methylene
blue from the waste waters and these materials are abundantly available.