Degradation of reactive red (B-3BF) dye wastewater using UV irradiation (254/185 nm) with sodium persulfate in a pilot UV device.

Two low-pressure ultraviolet (UV) lamps at 185/254 nm with sodium persulfate in a pilot UV device were utilized for the degradation of reactive red (B-3BF) dye wastewater compared with two UV lamps at 185/185 nm and two UV lamps at 254/254 nm. The degradation performances of UV irradiation (254/185 nm) with sodium persulfate under different degradation times, flow rates, initial pH, initial NaSO concentrations and initial dye concentrations were investigated. The experimental results illustrated that the degradation percentage of B-3BF dye could reduce to 90.42% with the energy consumption of 85.1 kWh/kg and the residual dye concentration of 1.92 mg/L by UV irradiation (254/185 nm) with initial NaSO concentration of 1.5 mmol/L and initial dye concentration of 20 mg/L. In addition, degradation performance of B-3BF dye wastewater by UV irradiation (254/185 nm) with sodium persulfate was more effective than those of UV irradiation (254/254 nm) and UV irradiation (185/185 nm). Therefore UV irradiation (254/185 nm) with sodium persulfate was promising for the degradation of B-3BF dye wastewater.