Degradation of Methylene Blue Dye Using Fenton/PhotoFenton-Peracetic Acid (UV/Fe3+-CH3COOH−H2O2) Processes from Aqueous Solutions

Background and Industries are one of the main sources of producing wastewater accounting for 20% of water pollution. Treatment of dye wastewaters is one of the major challenges in textile industry. The aim of this study was to investigate the performance of advanced oxidation processes, Fenton-Peracetic acid and Photo-Fenton-Peracetic acid for removal of methylene blue (MB) dye from aqueous solutions.
We conducted an experimental study in which the effects of operating parameters such as pH (3-9), contact time (2-30 min), Peracetic acid concentration (5-50 mg/L), ferric chloride concentration (5-200 mg/L), and methylene blue concentration (5-100 mg/L) were investigated on the removal efficiency of MB dye in the presence and absence of ultraviolet radiation. The experiment was conducted in a batch reactor and the efficiency of method to remove color was measured using a spectrophotometer.
In current study the highest removal efficiency (99%) was attained by Fenton-Peracetic acid process under the optimized conditions as follows: pH 3, Peracetic acid concentration 30 mg/L, ferric chloride concentration 60 mg/L, methylene blue concentration 10 mg/L, and contact time of 30 min, but, the same amount of color was removed in shorter time (20 min) by Photo-Fenton-Peracetic acid process.
High removal efficiency of the Photo-Fenton-Peracetic acid process in a relatively short time, which is because of hydroxyl radical production, show that this process can effectively be applied to remove MB dye and can be considered as a suitable alternative to conventional systems for treatment of wastewaters containing similar organic matters.