Comparative Study for Removal of Murexide Dye by Adsorption and Photocatalytic Degradation Using Nosean Synthesised from Coal Fly Ash

Alumino-silicate sulphate sodalite (Nosean), Na-8 [AlSiO4](6)(SO4)7H(2)O, was first time successfully synthesized from waste coal fly ash by alkali fusion followed by hydrothermal method. This synthesized Nosean was characterised by FT-IR, XRD, TGA/DTA, MAS-NMR, SEM, TEM and BET surface analysis. This paper first time reports the possibility of competitive removal efficiency of Murexide dye (MD) by adsorption and photocatalytic degradation using Nosean. The removal of Murexide dye by adsorption onto Nosean was tested by applying Langmuir's and Freundlich adsorption isotherm along with evaluating the kinetic parameters. Nosean was successfully used for photocatalytic degradation of MD under UV-Visible light irradiation. The degradation mechanism for MD was established by HPLC-MS technique and shows various degradation products. Further the recyclability of the photocatalyst, Nosean, was studied up to five runs.