Solar Photocatalytic Degradation of Textile Dye Direct Blue 86 in ZnO Suspension

• Main Author: Yahya, Syeikh Nuzul Hazwan
• Format: Final Year Project
• Language: English
• Published: Universiti Teknologi PETRONAS 2013
• Subjects: TA Engineering (General). Civil engineering (General)
• Online Access: http://utpedia.utp.edu.my/8221/1/Solar%20Photocatalytic%20Degradation%20of%20Textile%20Dye%20Direct%20Blue%2086%20in%20ZnO%20Suspension.pdf; http://utpedia.utp.edu.my/8221/

Synthetic dyes are found in various products ranging from clothes to leather accessories to furniture. These carcinogenic compounds are the major constituents of industrial wastewater and require removal due to their negative environmental and health effects. This study deals with the photocatalytic degradation of Direct Blue 86 (DB86) by ZnO irradiated using simulated solar light. The effect of initial dye concentration, catalyst loading, irradiation intensity as well as the pH of the dye solution and mineralization of the treated dye were studied. The experiments were carried out by irradiating the aqueous solutions of DB86 containing photocatalyst in a photoreactor. The rate of decolorization was monitored using UV-Vis spectroscopy. The results were modeled based on pseudo first order kinetics. The experimental results indicated that the maximum decolorization of DB86 occurred with 4g/L of ZnO catalyst at pH 10. High irradiation intensities favor photodegradation process while an increase in initial dye concentration reduced the overall photodegradation efficiency. COD reduction up to 84% was achieved under optimized conditions after 40 minutes of irradiation.