Composite of nano-TiO2 with cellulose acetate membrane from nata de Coco (Nano-TiO2/CA(NDC)) for methyl orange degradation

Composite of nano-tio2 with cellulose acetate (ca) has been prepared in this research. the composite then was used as photocatalyst for methyl orange degradation. the cellulose acetate was produced from nata de coco (ndc). immobilization of nano tio2 on the ca(ndc) membraneaims to increase the separation ability of photocatalyst after the degradation. tio2 nanoparticles were synthesized byalkaline destruction method with naoh and it was followed by calcination at 450 °c. the membrane photocatalyst nano tio2-ca(ndc) was prepared by phase inversion method by mixing tio2 nanoparticles with the ca casting solution. analysis by scanning electron microscopy (sem) indicates that nano tio2 has been successfully synthesized,and the average diameter are 88.63 nm ± 4.37. the x-ray diffraction pattern (xrd)of nano tio2 shows anatase tio2 as a major component. photodegradation of methyl orange solution was conducted with nano-tio2and nano tio2-ca(ndc) at various times of 10,20,30,40,and 50 minutes. degradation was conducted by the batch system with uv light with 8 watts of power. the result shows that photodegradation reaction followed the second order. the rate constant of methyl orange degradation with nano tio2-ca(ndc) is 0.01±0.002 ppm.min-1. eventhough,the rate constant value is lower than the methyl orange degradation with nano-tio2 powder,however,the immobilized form offers an advantage of separation process from the treated solution. statistical analysis also found that the difference in the rate constant is not siginificant. it means that the immobilization of nano-tio2 into a ca(ndc) membrane will not reduce the photocatalytic activity of tio2,even it will reduce the application cost due to the elimination of separation treatment. © 2017,university of mohammed premier oujda morocco.