Photo-Fenton process for the degradation of blue 1 dye and estradiol benzoate hormone in binary system: Application of sunlight and UV-C radiation

The wastewater generated in the dairy industry contains amounts of contaminants such as hormones and dyes, which are harmful to public health. That is why this wastewater, before being dumped into water bodies, must have an effective treatment that guarantees the degradation of these pollutants. The aim of the present research work is to evaluate the advanced oxidation processes (AOPs), in treatment by the photo-Fenton system, for binary solution Blue 1 (B1) - Estradiol (E1); through the comparison of the radiation in Sunlight and UV-C photo reactors. The influence of the doses of [Fe], [H2O2], and pH in the photo-Fenton reaction was evaluated, preparing samples of 50 mL of these parameters, through a factorial design. The kinetic study was carried out considering the initial conditions of [Fe] 3 mg L−1, [H2O2] 180 mg L−1, and pH 3, determining the degradation percentage at 15, 30, 45, 60, 90, 120, 180 minutes of radiation exposure. The photo-Fenton/Sunlight system showed for both substances a rapid degradation, reaching 100% of degradation after 180 min of operation; however, for the photo-Fenton/UV-C system, the same percentage of degradation was evidenced for B1 (100%), and a decrease in the percentage of degradation for E1 (89.48%).