Abstract—The discharge of persistent organic dyes from industrial wastewater into aquatic environments poses a significant environmental threat, creating an urgent need for advanced and sustainable treatment technologies. Among emerging solutions, iron-based Metal-Organic Frameworks (MOFs) have shown great promise as efficient photocatalysts. However, the synergistic effects of Materials Institute Lavoisier (MIL)-53(Fe) combined with hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) under visible light irradiation for dye degradation remain poorly understood. To address this gap, this study systematically investigates the photocatalytic degradation of Methyl Orange (MO) using a MIL-53(Fe) photocatalyst activated with H2O2 under visible light. The MIL-53(Fe) material was synthesized and characterized using Fourier-Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR) and Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) to confirm its structural and morphological properties. The photocatalytic performance was assessed by optimizing key parameters, including the initial pH and H2O2 dosage. Kinetic analyses and comparative experiments were conducted to elucidate the degradation mechanism. Results demonstrated a remarkable 98.75% degradation of MO within 60 min, following pseudo-first-order kinetics. This performance significantly outperformed visible light irradiation alone, which achieved only 10.71% degradation. Mechanistic studies further revealed that hydroxyl radicals (•OH) and photo-generated holes (h+) are the primary reactive species driving the degradation process. These findings highlight the high efficiency and tunability of MIL-53(Fe) as an environmentally benign photocatalyst. The study highlights its potential application in advanced wastewater treatment technologies under solar-simulated conditions, providing a scalable and sustainable approach for dye mineralization in industrial effluents.
Keywords—photocatalytic degradation, metal–organic frameworks, Materials Institute Lavoisier (MIL)-53(Fe), methyl orange, hydrogen peroxide, visible light irradiation
Cite: Eden S. Erasga, Chloe Justin Bigornia, Yna Isabel Dimaano, and Quinn Lendyll Teope, "Photocatalytic Degradation of Methyl Orange in Simulated Textile Wastewater Using Iron Terephthalate Metal–Organic Framework under Visible Light Irradiation," International Journal of Environmental Science and Development vol. 17, no. 4, pp. 319-327, 2026.
Copyright © 2026 by the authors. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited (CC BY 4.0).