Advanced oxidative decolorization of Red Cl-5B: effects of dye concentration, process optimization and reaction kinetics

Process conditions (dye concentration, pH and oxidant dose) were optimized for UV, O₃, H₂O₂/UV, O₃/UV, H₂O₂/O₃, and H₂O₂/O₃/UV to treat Red Cl-5B dye of varying concentrations (100, 300, and 500 mg/L). Ozonation resulted in color removal of more than 90%, whereas H₂O₂/O3 showed no advantage over the O₃ alone. However, H₂O₂/UV was found to be very suitable as it gave almost 100% decolorization in a relatively short reaction time. Decolorization rate for all processes was reduced to half when the dye concentration was increased from 100 to 300 mg/l. Comparative study of rate constants revealed that H₂O₂/UV is four times faster than that of UV alone. On the other hand O₃/H₂O₂ is three to four times slower than O₃ alone.