Kinetics of photocatalytic degradation of reactive yellow 17 dye in aqueous solution using UV irradiation

In this paper photoinduced degradation of reactive yellow 17 (RY 17) dye has been studied employing TiO2 in the form of slurry in a batch reactor. UV lamps were used as the source for irradiation. The disappearance of the dye in the solution follows approximately pseudo-first order kinetics. The apparent rate constant decreases with increase in initial concentration of the dye. The addition of oxygen, hydrogen peroxide and persulphate ion influences the degradation rate of the dye. The formation of CO2, SO42-, NO3- and NH4+ ions have been identified in the mineralisation process. The decolourisation and mineralisation were followed by UV-Visible spectrophotometer and high performance liquid chromatography respectively. The results reveal that photocatalytic degradation may be a useful technique in the removal of reactive dyes in wastewater from textile industries.