Photocatalytic Treatment of Methyl Orange Dye Wastewater by Porous Floating Ceramsite Loaded with Cuprous Oxide

It is well known that water treatment of printing and dyeing wastewaters is problematic. In order to decompose dyes from dyestuff wastewater and convert them into almost harmless substances for the natural environment, an easily prepared, efficient, practical, and easy-to-regenerate composite material was produced from porous floating ceramsite loaded with cuprous oxide (PFCC). The PFCC samples were prepared and characterized by X-ray diffraction spectroscopy (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS). The material was applied for photocatalytic degradation of methyl orange (MO) in water. The results show that the maximal degradation rate of MO was 92.05% when the experimental conditions were as follows: cuprous oxide loading rate of 8%, PFCC dosage of 20 g/L, the reaction time of 2 h, pH value of 8, and solution initial concentration of 30 mg/L. The degradation processes of MO fits well with the Langmuir–Hinshelwood model in reaction kinetics, and the Freundlich model in reaction thermodynamics, respectively. The degradation mechanism of MO was considered from two perspectives—one was the synergetic effect of adsorption and photocatalytic oxidation, and the other was the strong oxidation of hydroxyl radicals produced by photocatalysts.