| Water pollution poses a threat to the sustainability of the Earth's ecosystem. In particular, the textile industry has been shown to discharge effluents that produce compounds that are toxic to plant and animal life in aqueous environments. Under anaerobic conditions in water, dye materials are broken down into various toxic materials such as amines and cyanides. Therefore, removing these toxic compounds in the environment is very important. Various methods for the removal of dyes such as electro-oxidation, advanced oxidation processes (AOPs), coagulation and flocculation, adsorption, biological degradation, and membrane processes have been examined. Among these methods, adsorption is the most promising for industrial applications, especially for water purification. In this study, we examine the adsorption of the basic dye Rhodamine B (RhB) as a model from the xanthene chemical class, over a series of titania-silica xerogel materials prepared utilizing the Co-solvent Induced Gelation (CIG). The effect of textural properties of the adsorbent, temperature of adsorption, and the pH of the dye solution on the adsorption of dye were studied in detail in order to understand the factors affecting RhB adsorption on TiO2-SiO 2 xerogels. The results from this study may provide guidance in the applicability of TiO2-SiO2 materials towards the removal of organic pollutants form the waste water effluents. |
