Degradation of Procion Golden Yellow H-R Dye Using Ultrasound Combined with Advanced Oxidation Process

The current study aims to degrade Procion Golden Yellow H-R through ultrasound-induced cavitation coupled with various oxidants. A comprehensive investigation was conducted to examine the impact of parameters, specifically pH, power, and frequency, on the extent of degradation. The primary aim was to optimize degradation by solely utilizing a cavitation reactor where only 23.8% degradation was observed under the established optimum conditions of pH 2.5, frequency of 22 kHz, and power of 200 W. The investigation of the combined process of cavitation with H2O2, Fenton reagent (H2O2/Fe2+), NaOCl, and potassium persulphate (KPS) was subsequently conducted under optimized conditions. The combined operations greatly enhanced degradation with the use of H2O2 loading of 0.1 g/L leading to 53.3% degradation and the H2O2/Fe2+ ratio of 1:0.25 resulting in 94.6% degradation, while the NaOCl quantum of 0.075 g/L yielded 90% degradation and the KPS quantity of 2 g/L resulted in 97.5% degradation in the specific combinations. A toxicity test on two bacterial strains, Staphylococcus aureus and Escherichia coli, was carried out using the original dye solution and after treatment. The various individual and combination processes were compared using the parameters of cavitational yield and total treatment cost. The study elucidates that combining ultrasonic cavitation with KPS is an effective method for treating wastewater containing Procion Golden Yellow H-R dye, especially when implemented at a larger scale of operation.