Sustainable conversion of polyethylene plastic bottles into terephthalic acid, synthesis of coated MIL-101 metal–organic framework and catalytic degradation of pollutant dyes

Abstract Persistent environmental colored compounds, resistant to biodegradation, accumulate and harm eco-systems. Developing effective methods to break down these pollutants is crucial. This study introduces Ag-MIL-101 (Ag-MIL-101) as a composite and reusable catalyst that efficiently degrades specific colored organic pollutants (COPs) like Methylene blue (MB), 4-Nitrophenol (4-NP), and 4-Nitroaniline (4-NA) using sodium borohydride at room temperature. The MIL-101 was synthesized using Terephthalic acid (TPA) derived from the degradation of Polyethylene Terephthalate (PET) plastic waste, with the assistance of zinc chloride. To further investigation, the kinetics of degradation reaction was studied under optimized conditions in the presence of Ag-MIL-101 as catalyst. Our results demonstrated the remarkable efficiency of the degradation process, with over 93% degradation achieved within just 8 min. The catalyst was characterized using FTIR, XRD, FESEM, and TEM. In this study, the average particle size of Ag-MIL-101 was determined using SEM and XRD analysis. These methods allow us to accurately and precisely determine the particle size. We determined the reaction rate constants for the degradation of each COP using a pseudo first-order kinetic equation, with values of 0.585, 0.597 and 0.302 min −1 for MB, 4-NP, and 4-NA, respectively. We also evaluated the recyclability of the catalyst and found that it could be reused for up to three cycles with only a slight decrease in efficiency (10–15%). Overall, our findings highlight the promising application of Ag-MIL-101 as an effective catalyst for the degradation of COPs, emphasizing the importance of optimizing reaction conditions to achieve enhanced efficiency.