Influence of Calcination Temperature on Fe-Biomass Carbon Catalysts for Levofloxacin Fenton Degradation

Lucky Setyaningsih (Department of Chemical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Gadjah Mada University, Yogyakarta 55281||Indonesia Chemical Engineering Department, Islamic University of Indonesia, Yogyakarta 55584)
Sarto Sarto (Department of Chemical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Gadjah Mada University, Yogyakarta 55281)
Muslikhin Hidayat (Department of Chemical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Gadjah Mada University, Yogyakarta 55281)
Teguh Ariyanto (Department of Chemical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Gadjah Mada University, Yogyakarta 55281)

Bulletin of Chemical Reaction Engineering & Catalysis
2026: BCREC Volume 21 Issue 4 Year 2026 (December 2026) (Issue in Progress)

Iron oxide-loaded porous carbon has demonstrated effectiveness in heterogeneous Fenton reactions for degrading antibiotic pollutants in wastewater. However, the effect of calcination temperature on the properties of iron oxide loaded in biomass-derived carbon as a catalyst support remains largely unknown. In this work, sugar palm fiber served as the carbon source, and iron wet impregnation followed by calcination was employed to synthesize the catalyst. Calcination temperatures of 300, 500, and 700 °C were systematically investigated. Comprehensive characterization using TGA, XRD, SEM-EDX, VSM, Photoluminescence, Raman spectroscopy, nitrogen sorption analysis using NOVA and AUTOSORB instruments indicated that increasing the calcination temperature to 700 °C resulted in higher surface area, optimal pore structure, enhanced Fe3O4 formation, increased graphitization, and improved iron oxide dispersion. Catalytic tests for the degradation of 10 ppm levofloxacin showed that catalysts prepared at higher calcination temperatures exhibited superior removal efficiency and recyclability. Copyright © 2026 by Authors, Published by BCREC Publishing Group. This is an open access article under the CC BY-SA License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0).