Effects of Operational Parameters on Decolorization of C. I. Acid Red 88 by UV/H2O2 Process: Evaluation of Electrical Energy Consumption

Abstract In the present study, effects of operational parameters on the electrical energy consumption for photooxidative process (UV/H 2 O 2 ) for the decolorization of C. I. Acid Red 88 (AR88) have been investigated. In a series of experiments, 20 mg L −1 of AR88 solution were irradiated in the presence of different concentrations of H 2 O 2 (to find out optimum amount of H 2 O 2 ) by UV light intensity of 30 W m −2 for certain irradiation times. The decolorization of the dye followed pseudo first‐order kinetics, and hence, the figure‐of‐merit electrical energy per order ( E EO ) is appropriate for estimating the electrical energy efficiency. The electrical energy consumption was determined during the variation of some parameters such as initial H 2 O 2 concentration, initial dye concentration, UV light intensity, pH, and the gap size of solution. Results showed that electrical energy could be reduced by optimizing operational parameters.