Ljiljana Matović
University of Belgrade, Serbia
Title: Synergetic effect of ionizing radioation and adsorption on methylene blue degradation
Biography
Biography: Ljiljana Matović
Abstract
Dyes and pigments are used by many industries to color their products. Presence of dye molecules, even at very low concentrations, is undesirable and may significantly affect photosynthetic activity in aquatic systems. A new approach that combines the use of carbon material, as an adsorbent matrix, coupled with the high energy irradiation derived from the radioactive waste sources was used for degradation of Methylene blue (MB), which was taken as an example of contaminant. Synergistic effect on the degradation of the dye was investigated. Irradiated solutions of MB with carbon-based material show significantly greater decrease in absorption then the unirradiated solutions using only carbon-based material or irradiation. Positions of all bands in spectra remain unchanged except a slight shift and changes in the relative intensities of the bands at 1100 cm-1 assigned to C-O stretching in phenolic groups (1000-1250 cm-1). High energy radiation in water medium can produce radiolysis of water i.e. several active species such as H2, H2O2, H+, OH−, eaq−, •OH and •H. As a result of formed reactive speaces which originate from the irradiated material and radiolysis of water, the amplitude of all absorption bands characteristic for MB disappeared completely. Joint application of those techniques, radiolysis and adsorption, using waste radioactive sources, as well as modified waste materials, has not been applied before.