Zeolite 4A supported CdS/g-C3N4 type-II heterojunction: A novel visible-light-active ternary nanocomposite for potential photocatalytic degradation of cefoperazone

•Synthesize of zeolite 4A supported CdS/g-C3N4 via a facile and expedient method.•Study of type-II heterojunction photocatalyst performance toward degradation of cefoperazone.•Optimization and modeling of the process by using RSM and ANN.•Describe of the process kinetics by the Langmuir-Hinshelwood’s pseudo-first order model. The CdS/g-C3N4 heterojunction photocatalyst supported on 4A zeolite was successfully synthesized using a simple chemical precipitation method. The physicochemical characteristics of the as-prepared ternary composite were assessed using X-Ray diffraction (XRD), field emission- scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM), energy dispersive X-Ray (EDX), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), N2 adsorption–desorption, differential reflectance spectroscopy (UV–Vis-DRS), and photoluminescence (PL) techniques. The results confirmed the successful synthesis of the CdS/g-C3N4/4AZ nanocomposite and introduction of the CdS and g-C3N4 on the substrate of 4A zeolite. Cefoperazone (CFP) antibiotic was tested as the model pollutant to assess the photocatalytic performance of the synthesized nanocomposite under visible light irradiation. The response surface methodology (RSM) and artificial neural network (ANN) showed desirable reasonability for the prediction of the CFP degradation efficiency. More than 93% of CFP with a concentration of 17 mg L-1 degraded in the presence of the 0.4 g L-1 of the catalyst at pH of 9 after 80 min treatment time (RSM-based optimization results). The pH of the solution, irradiation time, catalyst dosage, and the initial concentration of the CFP affected degradation efficiency with a percentage impact of 37, 29, 19, and 15 %, respectively (ANN-based modeling results). The addition of 1 mM of isopropanol, benzoquinone, and sodium oxalate reduced the CFP degradation efficiency from 93.23% to 85.18, 41.16, and 32.47%, respectively, proving the decisive role of the °O2– and h+ in the photodegradation process. The kinetic studies indicated the following of the process from the Langmuir-Hinshelwood’s pseudo-first-order model (kapp = 3.71 × 10-2 min−1). The structure of the identified by-products using GC-MS analysis confirmed that CFP mainly decomposed through the cleavage of C-S, C-N, and N-N bonds. Moreover, the formation of the aliphatic compounds and carboxylic acids as by-products confirmed nearly complete mineralization of the CFP to non-toxic products.