Synergistic effect of sonolysis and photocatalysis in the degradation kinetics of effluent solution

Abstract

In this study, degradation of the effluent solution using sonolysis, sonocatalysis, photocatalysis and sonophotocatalysis was investigated. For this purpose, an artificial effluent solution (AES) containing Acid Black 1 and Acid Blue 62 dyestuffs was prepared. The initial AES concentration, catalyst amount, light intensity and the power of ultrasound energy were chosen as the reaction parameters.The degradation rate of AES followed the pseudo-first order kinetics inconcentration of artificial effluent solution. The results showed that the sonophotocatalysis (US + UV + TiO₂) was more effective in the degradation than sonolysis (US), sonocatalysis (US + TiO2) and photocatalysis (UV + TiO₂) performed individually. The highest and lowest degradation rates were obtained in sonophotocatalytic process and sonolytic process (US), respectively. It was found also that the synergistic effect between sonolysis and photocatalysis processes is the main reason why the maximum degradation is achievable in the sonophotocatalytic process.