Degradation of basic yellow auramine O-A textile dye by semiconductor photocatalysis

Abstract

The photocatalytic degradation of textile dye, basic yellow auramine O was studied by a batch process using ZnO as the catalyst and sunlight as the illuminant. ZnO was characterized by XRD, IR, DRS and BET techniques. Zinc oxide was found to be active tremendously in degrading the dye. In addition to removing the colour from the dye solution, the COD was also reduced suggesting that the fragments produced from the dye were mineralized. The process followed pseudo first order kinetics. The rate constant decreased with increase in the initial concentration of dye. The effect of H₂O₂, Fenton's reagent and <i>p</i>H on the degradation of dye was also examined and the results were discussed.