Kinetic study of laser-induced photocatalytic degradation of dye (alizarin yellow) from wastewater using nanostructured ZnO

Nanoparticles of zinc oxide semiconductor were applied for removal of toxic organic pollutants such as dyes (alizarin yellow GG) from wastewater using laser induced photocatalytic process. A special photoreactor was designed for this purpose using local resources. Laser enhanced photo degradation of alizarin yellow GG (AYGG) was carried out by irradiating the contaminated aqueous solution with a 355 nm radiation generated from third harmonic of Nd:YAG laser. The effect of different operational parameters such as the initial dyes concentration, the concentration of photocatalyst, laser irradiation time, laser energy and pH on photocatalytic degradation of the dyes was investigated. It was observed that pH and the initial dyes concentration has a significant role in the dyes removal process. Using the optimum conditions (parameters), almost 90% degradation was achieved by nano ZnO in a short span of time. The efficiency achieved in this work using nano ZnO was much higher than micro ZnO catalyst and using conventional custom made setups. This is a first study of its kind where laser and nano ZnO particles have been employed for removal of dyes from wastewater.