Treatment of tartrazine by electro-fenton process using used batteries / Aina Nasuha Abdul Aziz

This study focuses on the use of Electro Fenton process for degradation of tartrazine, a type of azo dye. The degradation is achieved by reactions with hydroxyl radicals (HO•) which are produced from Fenton reaction in a reactor consisting of 2 cm2 of electrodes made of graphite cylinders from used batteries. Used batteries are one of the many types of hazardous wastes. They are scheduled wastes which means that they must be sent to recycling centres for proper treatment. Once they are improperly being discarded to the landfill, they pose a harmful threat towards the ecosystem. Utilizing these types of material is a driving factor towards sustainability and cost saving wastewater treatment. Electro Fenton utilizes the use of Fenton reagent as catalyst. The analysis of the experiment was done by using Ultraviolet Visible Spectroscopy (UV-Vis) to determine removal efficiency of tartrazine in wastewater. Variables studied were contact time, initial dye concentration, catalyst concentration and applied voltage. Color removal efficiency reached 97.87% for the three hours contact time, dye initial concentration of 10 ppm, Fe2+ catalyst = 0.3 mM at applied voltage = 4.5 V with equal sizes of electrodes. Under these conditions, kinetics study revealed that dye removal takes place through a second-order reaction.