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High Resolution Image Download MS PowerPoint Slide Recycling waste polyethylene terephthalate (PET) and heavy-metal-containing industrial wastewater to produce metal–organic frameworks (MOFs) offers a sustainable solution that reduces environmental pollution via waste upcycling. PET bottles were depolymerized into sodium terephthalate linkers (Na-BDC) via a solvent-free ball-milling process, resulting in Na-BDC linkers with 94% purity. The Na-BDC linkers were further reacted with iron-rich wastewater in a solvent-free microwave-assisted reactor for 30 min, rapidly forming a magnetic MOF composite (MagMOF). The proposed synthetic route is novel, solvent-free, environmentally friendly, time-efficient, and scalable. MagMOFs showed strong magnetic properties essential for catalyst recovery using an external magnetic field. The unsaturated metal sites and Fe III /Fe II redox pairs observed in the structure directly influenced the high catalytic activity. Near complete degradation of azo dye was observed in 30 min via Fenton-like catalysis at a slightly acidic pH. The degradation efficiency of the spent MagMOF₃00 retained 84% even after 5 consecutive reuse cycles, showcasing its robustness and structural stability. Integrating ball milling with rapid microwave-assisted MOF synthesis in this work offers a greener, energy-efficient, and scalable platform for converting industrial waste into value-added functional materials, supporting sustainable close-loop-recycling.
Waribam et al. (Wed,) studied this question.