Organic synthetic dyes are widely produced and used today. Significant losses of organic and inorganic content occurs during the manufacturing and application of dyes and its discharge in the effluent presents a threat to the eco-systems due to general toxicity and resistance to destruction by biological treatment methods. Particularly azo dyes are of special environmental concern due to their degradation products such as aromatic amines, which are considered highly carcinogenic. So, dyes have to be removed from coloured wastewater before discharge. However, traditional treatment methods (adsorption, coagulation/flocculation) mainly transfer the contaminants from wastewater to secondary waste. Therefore, advanced oxidation processes seem to be sustainable and clean technology to decolorize and minimize organic dyes content from wastewater. In this paper, degradation of an azo dye C.I. Direct Orange 39 (DO39) using Fenton type processes (Fe2+/H2O2, Fe3+/H2O2and Fe0/H2O2) has been performed. The molar ratio of Fentons type reagents has been varied in the range of 1 : 5 up to 1 : 50 at 0.5 and 1.0 mM concentrations of iron salts and iron powder. Experiments have been conducted for two hours in a batch reactor with magnetic stirring, ambient conditions and pH 3. The process efficiency and formation of degradation by-products have been determined on the basis of results obtained by UV/VIS spectrophotometric, total organic carbon (TOC) and high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) analyses. The optimal Fenton and Fenton ``like" processes parameters have been applied in the photo reactor, too. It has been observed that simultaneous utilization of UV irradiation with Fenton's and Fenton ``like" reagents increases the degradation of DO39 dye. Degradation of the dye in dilute aqueous solution follows pseudo-first order kinetics. The maximal decolourization of 20 mg L-1 DO39 in water of 93.2% and TOC degradation of 76.9% were obtained using Fe3+/H2O2= 1 : 5 molar ratio. The results indicate that the treatment of DO39 dye wastewater with UV/Fe3 +/H2O2 system was found to be the most efficient.
