Comparison study of phenol degradation using cobalt ferrite nanoparticles synthesized by hydrothermal and microwave methods

In the present study, the potential of synthesized cobalt ferrite nanoparticles using microwave (M-CF) and conventional hydrothermal (H-CF) methods for degradation of phenol was investigated during photo-Fenton-like process. The synthesized nanoparticles were characterized using powder X-ray diffraction, scanning electronic microscopy, and vibrating sample magnetometer analysis. The results showed that the microwave heating method produced smaller size nanoparticles with relatively narrower particle size distribution as well as stronger magnetic properties, compared with H-CF nanoparticles. The effect of photo-Fenton-like process parameters including UV light intensity (0–75 W), catalyst dosage (0–0.5 g/L), pH (2–5), hydrogen peroxide concentration (0–100 mmol/L), phenol initial concentration (20–500 mg/L), and temperature (35–55°C) on the phenol degradation was investigated. The kinetic data of phenol degradation using both synthesized nanoparticles were well fitted by pseudo-first-order kinetic model. The reaction times of phenol degradation over all ranges of phenol initial concentrations using M-CF catalyst were much smaller than those observed using H-CF catalyst. The obtained results indicated that the M-CF catalyst had a higher potential of phenol degradation compared with H-CF catalyst during photo-Fenton-like process.