• Membrane and Water Treatment
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• v.5 no.4
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• pp.281-293
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• 2014

The present work aimed to study the decolorization kinetics and characteristics of a selected azo dye under the influence of two key operational parameters including hydraulic retention time (HRT) and solid retention time (SRT). The decolorization efficiency and the two important criteria of k and normalized k (k/MLSS) were evaluated in lab-scale membrane sequencing batch reactors (MSBRs) at various HRTs of 48, 24 and 16 h (with constant SRT) and in addition, at various SRTs of infinity, 40 and 10 d (with constant HRT). According to the obtained results, both zero and first-order kinetics were properly fitted the decolorization profiles of the selected azo dye in all of the applied HRTs and SRTs. Increase of both HRT and SRT positively affected the decolorization efficiency. More MLSS concentrations corresponded to the lower HRTs and the higher SRTs resulted in higher decolorization rate constants (k). However, the effect of reducing the HRT was not compensated by increase of the MLSS concentration in order to reach higher decolorization efficiency. In addition, increase of the decolorization efficiency, as a consequence of the higher MLSS concentrations at longer SRTs, was restrained by decrease of the time-limited decolorization capability of biomass (represented by normalized k). Evaluation of both k and normalized k is suggested in order to have a more precise study on the decolorization kinetics and characteristics.

• Journal of Environmental Science International
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• v.25 no.12
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• pp.1717-1726
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• 2016

In this study, the reductive decolorization of three acid and basic dyes using modified zero-valent iron (i.e., acid-washed iron (Aw/Fe) and palladium coated iron (Pd/Fe)) at various pH conditions (pH 3~5) was experimentally investigated and the decolorization characteristics were evaluated by analyzing the absorbance spectra and reaction kinetics. In the case of acid dyes such as methyl orange and eriochrome black T, color removal efficiencies increased as initial pH of the dye solution decreased. However, the color removal of methylene blue, a basic dye, was not affected much by the initial pH and more than 70% of color was removed within 10 min. During the decolorization reaction, the absorbance of methyl orange (${\lambda}_{max}=464nm$) and eriochrome black T (${\lambda}_{max}=528nm$) decreased in the visible range but increased in the UV range. The absorbance of methylene blue (${\lambda}_{max}=664nm$) also decreased gradually in the visible range. Pseudo-zero order, pseudo-first order, and pseudo-second order kinetic models were used to analyze the reaction kinetics. The pseudo-second order kinetic model was found to be the best with good correlation. The decolorization reaction rate constants ($k_2$) of methylene blue were relatively higher than those of methyl orange and eriochrome black T. The reaction rate constants of methyl orange and eriochrome black T increased with a decrease in the initial pH.