Reactive Dye Degradation by AOPs; Development of a Kinetic Model for UV/H2O2 Process

An application of UV/H2O2 process for the treatment of model wastewater containing organic reactive azo dye C.I. Reactive Blue 137 (RB137) was studied. The efficiency of applied process for decolorization and mineralization of RB137 model solution is discussed. The influence of operating process parameters, initial pH and initial concentration of H2O2, as well as initial dye mass concentration on process effectiveness was investigated. Both direct UV photolysis and OH radical attack were assumed as RB137 degradation mechanisms and a detailed kinetic model for dye degradation by UV/H2O2 process was proposed. The predicted system behavior was compared with experimentally obtained results of decolorization and mineralization of RB137 wastewater. A sensitivity analysis for the evaluation of importance of each reaction used in the model development was also included