Acid Orange 52 Dye Degradation By Electrocatalytic Plus Photocatalytic Technique And Intermediates Detection

The degradation efficiency of Acid Orange 52 dye in an aqueous solutions using the combination of electrocatalytic and photocatalytic processes has been studied. Electrocatalytic and photocatalytic methods in practice reckon among advanced oxidation processes (AOPs). The effect of catalyst B dosage and irradiarion time on the rate of mentioned dye degradation was studied in the photocatalytic process. It was shown, that when Acid Orange 52 simulated dye wastewater was treated by electrocatalytic technique under optimal conditions with catalyst A, the decolorization treatment effect was 95 % in visible part of light spectrum (464 nm) and 38.6 % in ultraviolet part (270 nm), respectively. When the combined electrocatalytic-photocatalytic technique was processed with catalysts A and B, the color removal rate of dye could reach 99.3% (464 nm) and 91.5% (270 nm), respectively. The large amount of products of small mole weight was formed in the course of oxidation reaction. Moreover, the obtained values of chemical oxygen demand (COD) and total organic carbon (TOC) witnessed, that the combination of electrocatalytic and photocatalytic processes could significantly improve the biodegradability of dye as a whole. It was shown, that the removal rate of COD and TOC, respectively, were 54.3% and 72.8%. The reaction intermediates were determined by electrospray ionization-mass spectrometry (ESI-MS) analysis, and as a result, the probable degradation mechanism (pathway) has been proposed. The results of the work may be useful as theoretical bases for designing effective resource-saving, technically efficient and economically sound wastewater treatment systems, containing hardly biodegradable azo dyes.