Decolorisation of textile effluent using homogeneous photochemical oxidation processes

In this paper, the results of COD and colour removal from textile effluent using homogeneous photochemical oxidation processes in a batch mode are presented. The results show that the best result was obtained using a combined O3/H2O2/UV process, with 97% removal for COD and 99% removal for colour. Optimum conditions for pH and hydrogen peroxide dosage for this process was determined as 3 and 25 mg/l, respectively. Both H2O2/UV and O3/UV combinations were found to result in similar levels of COD and colour removal efficiencies (over 91% removal for COD and 96% for colour). In addition, the associated operating costs of the various advanced oxidation processes were determined in this study. Received: 21 February 2005; Accepted: 14 June 2005.