Removal of sulfur mustard agent simulant by the newly SnO2/CoFe2O4/ZSM-5 zeolite nanocomposite catalyst

The main goal of this work is to assess the effective removal of sulfur mustard agent simulant, namely chloro ethyl phenyl sulfide (CEPS) in aqueous solution applying the SnO₂/CoFe₂O₄/ZSM-5 zeolite nanocomposite catalyst. In this investigation, the CoFe₂O₄ and SnO2 nanoparticles were successfully immobilized on the ZSM-5 zeolite using the ultrasound-assisted hydrothermal method and analyzed via FESEM, XRD, FTIR, VSM, EDAX, and BET. The SnO₂/CoFe₂O₄/ZSM-5 nanocomposite performance was then evaluated for the CEPS removal and monitored via UV-Vis and GC-MS. Besides, the effects of multiple factors, such as contact time, catalyst type and catalyst dosage on the removal of CEPS were implemented. The attained information from UV-Vis analysis illustrated the decontamination yield of 99.7% for CEPS target molecule. The two factors involving: contact time of 12 min and catalyst dosage of 100 mg were gained as the optimal values for the removal process. Additionally, the hydroxyl ethyl phenyl sulfide (HEPS) and phenyl vinyl sulfide (PVS) as non-toxic degradation products of CEPS over the SnO₂/CoFe₂O₄/ZSM-5 nanocomposite were identified.