simultaneous degradation and adsorption of cyanide using modified fly ash and tio2/uv

Due to the present water shortage and environmental problems associated with industrial effluent, investigation of novel treatment technologies is an essential approach. being a highly toxic chemical of asphyxiating characteristics, cyanide is seen as a major environmental pollutant in a wide range of industrial effluents. the present study aimed to address the adsorption and photocatalytic degradation of cyanide using activated fly ash and tio2/uv. to investigate the removal efficiency of cyanide, two sets of experiments were designed. first, cyanide was absorbed by activated fly ash and degraded via a photocatalytic process, individually. second, simultaneous adsorption and degradation was examined. the removal efficiency of cyanide by modified fly ash (mfa), tio2/uv, and their combination (mfa-tio2/uv) was 76.1%, 81%, and 86.6%, respectively. optimal conditions for the combination of activated fly ash afa-tio2/uv were contact time of 6 hours, temperature of 100 °c, and afa: tio2 ratio (w/w) of 1:1. under these conditions, a maximum removal rate of 92.4% was obtained when 1.2 g of mfa/tio2 was used with a ph value of 3 in the presence of uv light. based on the results of cyanide removal, it can be concluded that the combination of adsorption and photocatalytic degradation with mfa-tio2/uv can be utilized to improve the removal of cyanide from wastewater.