Oxidative removal of brilliant green by UV/S2O82‒, UV/HSO5‒ and UV/H2O2 processes in aqueous media: A comparative study

The removal of brilliant green (BG), a toxic organic and cationic dye, has been examined by UV/S2O82- (PS), UV/HSO5- (PMS) and UV/H2O2 processes. BG showed insignificant direct photolysis at 254 nm (i.e., 8.6% after 30 min). However, enhanced BG degradation was observed in UV/PS, UV/PMS and UV/H2O2 systems as revealed from 63.1, 47.0 and 34.8% BG degradation, respectively, at 30 min of reaction time, using 0.05 mM BG and 1.0 mM oxidant initial concentration. The bimolecular rate constants of OH and SO4- with BG were determined to be 2.35 × 109 and 2.21 × 109 M-1 s-1, respectively. Electrical energy per order (EE/O) values for UV/PS, UV/PMS and UV/H2O2 processes were calculated to be 5.4, 6.8, and 7.8 KWh/m3/order, respectively. The addition of humic acid (HA) and inorganic anions inhibited the degradation of BG by UV/PS in the order of NO2- > HA > HCO3- > Cl- > NO3- ≈ SO42-. The results of frontier electron densities (FEDs) showed that C-atom holding the three rings (C7), and C-atoms at para positions to N-alkyl groups of the two rings (C4 and C14) are the predominant sites for radical addition. Furthermore, nine degradation products (DPs) of BG were detected experimentally using LC/MS/MS.