An effective and novel photocatalyst derived from the electroplating sludge for removing methylene blue in aqueous solutions

In this study, we reported that the electroplating sludges, a solid waste of the electroplating process, could be employed as an effective and novel photocatalyst for removing methylene blue in an aqueous solution. The treated materials were comprehensively characterized by SEM, XRD, FTIR, and BET. The obtained results showed that the chemical composition of electroplating sludges contained a large amount of various metal oxides that would be beneficial for photocatalysis. As expected, the best photocatalytic degradation of methylene blue (removal similar to 98.0%) was found to be at a concentration of 20 ppm and pH of 9 under Xenon light irradiation time of 120 min. In addition, the as-treatment electroplating sludges also exhibited high removal efficiency in real wastewater in terms of TOC and COD values, proving electroplating sludges as an effective and promising photocatalyst for removing methylene blue and other organic pollutants in actual wastewater.