Degradation of Anionic Dye Eosin by Glow Discharge Electrolysis Plasma

Abstract

This paper describes a novel method for the degradation of eosin by using glow discharge electrolysis (GDE). The effects of various parameters on the removal efficiency were studied. It was found that the eosin degradation could be raised considerably by increasing the applied voltage and the initial concentration, or by decreasing pH of the aqueous solution. Fe2+ ion had an evident accelerating effect on the eosin degradation. The degradation process of eosin obeyed a pseudo-first-order reaction. The relationship between the degradation rate constant k and the reaction temperature T could be expressed by Arrhenius equation with which the apparent activation energy Ea of 14.110 kJ. mol−1 and the pre-exponential factor ko of 2.065×10−1 min−1 were obtained, too. The determination of hydroxyl radical was carried out by using N,N-dimethyl-p-nitrosoaniline (RNO) as a scavenger. The results showed that the hydroxyl radical plays an important role in the degradation process.