Adsorption and decomposition of cationic dye by using goethite-polyacrylate composite

The adsorption of cationic dye has been widely carried out by using polyacrylate, but it has a low ability to degrade the dye. On other hand, goethite has the opposite properties. This study aims to synthesis the composite of goethite-polyacrylate and its application for adsorption and degradation of methylene blue dye. The composite was synthesized by aging goethite at 40 °C for 7 days, polyacrylate then was added to goethite and the aging process was continued until 21 days. The synthesized composite was characterized by using Fourier Transform Infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and X-ray diffraction (XRD). The result indicated that the composite has better adsorption capacity compared to goethite with the uptake of adsorbed methylene blue is 625 mg/g. The equilibrium data fit the Langmuir isotherm model correlation efficient higher than 0.99. Goethite-polyacrylate composite efficiently degraded the methylene blue compared to polyacrylate. The combination of goethite and polyacrylate improved the properties of the material which has good adsorption and degradation performance.