Degradation product distribution of Reactive Red-147 dye treated by UV/H2O2/TiO2 advanced oxidation process

Abstract

The presence of dyes in industrial effluents is of public health concern. A considerable attention was paid to remove the dyes from the aquatic environment. This study focusses on the degradation of reactive red (RR-147) dye under UV irradiation in the presence of hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) and nano photo catalyst (TiO2). Effect of different parameters like dye concentration, pH, H2O2, UV irradiation time and TiO2 was studied. The maximum degradation of 92% for 50 ppm dye concentration, pH 3.4, H2O2 0.9 mL, TiO2 0.6 g and UV irradiation time 60 min was observed. The UV/Vis spectrophotometer was used to investigate the change in absorbance after UV irradiation. The 57 % reduction in COD was achieved when the dye aqueous solution was exposed to UV/H2O2/TiO2 process under optimized conditions. The FTIR was used for the identification of degraded product after UV irradiation treatment. The FTIR study showed that most of the functional group peaks were disappeared after the UV/H2O2/TiO2 treatment. LCMS/GCMS analyses scrutinized the intermediates and a mechanistic degradation pathway has also been proposed. The cytotoxicity of the irradiated dye samples was assessed using hemolytic test while mutagenic evaluation was carried out using the Ames test before and after treatment. The UV/H2O2/TiO2 is proved to be more capable and efficient system for the degradation of the RR-147 dye as compared to UV/H2O2 alone.