Treatability study of synthesized silica nanoparticles to reduce pollution load of industrial wastewater (Feb, 10.1007/s13762-022-03972-9, 2022 )

Nanomaterials hold great potential to reduce pollution load from industrial wastewater. The silica nanoparticles (SNPs) were synthesized by sol–gel method and characterized by FTIR spectroscopy, XRD analysis and UV–visible spectroscopy. These SNPs were applied on industrial wastewater for reduction of pollution load, collected from Blund Dyestuff industry. To calculate treatment efficacy all parameters like color, total dissolve solids and conductivity were measured before and after treatment. Response surface methodology (RSM) was applied to design reaction layout for five groups of synthesized SNPs to evaluate the best among all. SNPs were also used in combination with natural coagulant; Potassium Aluminum Sulfate (alum) which boosted the activity of synthesized SNPs. It was observed that silica nanoparticles (SN-3) calcinated at 700 °C showed better results among the five types of SNPs. It reduced color up to 75%, conductivity 25% and TDS up to 35% at dose 0.16 g/100 ml of wastewater, 4 h contact time and 8 pH of original solution along with 8 mL of 10% alum solution. Other groups of SNPs showed reductions as well but lesser, as compared to SN-3. Graphical abstract: [Figure not available: see fulltext.]. © 2022, Islamic Azad University (IAU).