MORINGA-TiO2 NANO COMPOSITE (MT2) FOR REMOVAL OF METHYLENE BLUE (MB) AND METHYL ORANGE (MO) DYES FROM THEIR AQUEOUS SOLUTIONS

Removal and/or degradation of dyes existing in water samples were considered by so many researchers. The present work distinguishes by using a very low cost, highly available and eco- friendly materials as adsorbents. On the other hand, this work considered as unprecedented work where, this is the first time to use moringa seeds as a co-dopant to synthesize the moringa/titania bio-composite. Three different adsorbents (moringa seeds (M2), TiO2 (T2) and moringa/TiO2 nano composite (MT2)) were examined for removal of methylene blue (MB) and methyl orange (MO) dyes existing in water samples. Sol-gel method was made use for synthesis both of TiO2 and the composite. The resulted powders were characterized by scanning electron microscope (SEM) & transmittance electron microscope (TEM) micrographs, EDX, XRD, BET and IR as well. For batch method, the effect of pH, dose, shaking time as well as initial dye concentration were studied. The highest removal for MB was obtained at 10 mg/L where, removal percentages were 39, 61 and 80.5% for T2, M2 and MT2, respectively. On the other hand, the removal percentages of MO were 40.0, 52.5 and 68.4% for T2, M2 and MT2, respectively.