JOURNAL of the Tunisian Chemical Society

An indirect electrochemical process which is very efficient for the degradation of organic pollutants in aqueous solution, is described. The process, named electro-Fenton, is based on in situ electrochemical generation of Fenton's reagent (H₂O₂, Fe²⁺) which leads to the production of hydroxyl radicals °OH. Hydroxyl radicals are very powerful oxidizing agents. They react with organic pollutants and thus lead to their mineralization. In this study we have applied the electro-Fenton process to degrade an azo dye, the tartrazine, present in waste food industrial water. Degradation kinetics and chemical oxygen demand (COD) have been determinated. Here we show that the mineralization efficiency was around 80% for the tartrazine in case of a 0.05 mM aqueous solution at 5000 coulombs under our experimental conditions. The results display the efficiency of the electro-Fenton process to degrade organic matter present in water.

N. Bellakhal, M. Dachraoui, N. Oturan, M.A. Oturan

Electro-Fenton process, Hydroxyl radicals, Tartrazine, Degradation, Mineralization

Pages 223-228