Fabrication of Aluminum-Based Hybrid Nanocomposite for Photocatalytic Degradation of Methylene Blue Dye: A Techno-Economic Approach

Abstract

Al2O3–MgO nanocomposite was synthesized using the co-precipitation method for photocatalytic degradation of methylene blue (MB) dye under UV–Vis light. Box–Behnken design (BBD) in response to surface methodology (RSM) was used for the optimization and modelling of the photocatalytic degradation of MB dye. An analysis of variance (ANOVA) revealed a quadratic model with an R2 of 0.9880. MB removal followed the first-order kinetic model (R2 = 0.9520, k1 = 0.007 min−1). Economic feasibility study at optimized conditions showed that the wastewater treatment cost is USD 16.50/m3 and the payback period is 3.17 years.