Degradation of acriflavine using environmentally benign process involving singlet-oxygen-photo-Fenton: A comparative study

The present study was conducted to analyze the degradation efficiency of acriflavine (a dye) using the photo-Fenton reagent with singlet molecular oxygen. In the presence of singlet molecular oxygen, the photochemical oxidation rate of Acriflavine is increased. The rate of photooxidation of dye in aqueous medium has been compared among singlet-oxygen-photo-Fenton (SOPF), photo-Fenton (PF), singlet oxygen (SOP) and photo-Fenton (PF) (< 10 degrees C) processes. SOPF is more effective photooxidation process than PF, PF (< 10 degrees C) and SOP. The effect of some parameters like pH, the concentration of Fe3+ ions, concentration of acriflavine, amount of H2O2 and light intensity have been observed for the rate of photooxidation. The photochemical oxidation reaction follows pseudo-first order kinetics. A tentative mechanism has been suggested for the singlet-oxygen-photo-Fenton process (SOPF).