Kinetics of the sonophotocatalytic degradation of orange G in presence of Fe3+

Abstract

The degradation and mineralization of orange G (OG) in aqueous solution by means of ultrasound irradiation at a frequency of 213 kHz and its combination with Fe3+ were investigated. The effect of Fe3+ concentration on the degradation efficiency was studied. The degradation of the dye followed first-order like kinetics under the conditions examined. A comparison study on the hybrid technique of sonophotocatalytic degradation in the presence of Fe3+ (SonoFenton) with the individual techniques of photocatalysis and sonolysis was also performed. A slight synergistic enhancement in the degradation of the dye was observed during the sonophotocatalytic oxidation of OG using Fe3+. The total organic carbon (TOC) measurements, carried out in order to evaluate the mineralization efficiency of OG using sonolysis, photocatalysis and sonophotocatalysis, showed a synergetic effect of combining sonolysis and photolysis. © IWA Publishing 2009.