Abstract

Purpose This study aims to investigation of the guar gum-manganese dioxide (GG/MnO2) nanocomposite (NC) synthesized using an environment-friendly method and the degradation of reactive yellow (RY 145) dye in the UV system. Design/methodology/approach Characterization of the GG/MnO2 NCs were conducted using field emission scanning electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction and Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy. Experiments were conducted using a 1 L glass reactor coupled with Ultraviolet (UV-C) blue light bulb of wavelength 250 nm and power of 8 W. Findings The NC (2.25 g/L) displayed high RY 145 dye degradation (81) with 10 mg/L of concentration at pH 3. The coefficient of determination (R-2 0.99) also depicted that the model fits the experimental data. The analysis of variance (ANOVA) showed that the F-values of 464.75, 276.04 and 5.15 are related to the dose of GG/MnO2 NCs, initial concentration of RY 145 dye and solution pH, respectively. Practical implications The GG/MnO2 NCs followed by photo oxidation process (UV-process) could be used to degrade the RY 145 dye from synthetic wastewater. Originality/value There are two main innovations. One is that the novel process is performed successfully for RY 145 dye degradation. The other is that the optimized conditions are obtained by Box-Behnken design. Also, the effects of different variables on the RY 145 dye removal efficiency were investigated.