Ultrasonic degradation of Rodamin 6G in the presence of hydrogen peroxide and Zinc Oxide

Dyestuffs are often present in industrial wastewaters and can consist of hazardous substances have a serious impact on the environment and personal health. Sonochemical degradation which combines destruction of the target compounds by free radical reaction and thermal cleavage is one of the recent advanced oxidation processes (AOP) and proven to be effective for removing low concentration organic pollutants from aqueous streams. The aim of this study is to investigate the effect of operational parameters such as solution pH value, addition amount of ZnO catalyst, addition amount of H2O2 and power ultrasound on the ultrasonic degradation of Rhodamine 6G(R6G) in aqueous solution. The results showed that decolorization of R6G follows pseudo-firstorder reaction kinetics. The optimal conditions for high degradation ratios of R6G are considered to be the solution acidities of pH 9.0, the addition amounts of 2.0 g/L ZnO catalyst and the addition amounts of H2O2 0.02 mol/L, respectively, for the initial concentration of R6G 2.087×10-5 mol/L. In addition, the rate of degradation was increased by increasing power ultrasound.