Understanding the Efficiency of Catalytic Ozonation for the Degradation of Synthetic Dyes in Water: A Study of Degradation Mechanism and Pathways

Naif Ghazi Altoom ()
Additional contact information
Naif Ghazi Altoom: Department of Biology, King Khalid Military Academy, P.O. Box 22140, Riyadh 11495, Saudi Arabia

Sustainability, 2025, vol. 17, issue 18, 1-13

Abstract: Dyes in wastewater are an environmental issue due to the persistent nature of these compounds. This comparative study examined the efficiency of ozonation and catalytic ozonation using Fe 3+ /O 3 for the degradation of two selected dyes, Methylene Blue (MB) and Methyl Orange (MO). For MB, ozonation alone achieved 65% degradation within the maximum reaction time of 15 min, whereas 100% degradation was obtained with the Fe 3+ /O 3 method in the same time. On the other hand, for MO, ozonation alone resulted in 85% degradation within 15 min, while the Fe 3+ /O 3 method achieved 100% degradation in 10 min. The effect of Fe 3+ dose was also investigated, and 3 ppm was found to be the most efficient. The scavenger effect highlighted that • OH radicals were the dominant species for degradation. For MB, the highest degradation rate was observed at pH 9, which is attributed to catalyzed ozone decomposition, thereby enhancing the generation of • OH radicals to a higher concentration. For MO, the degradation rate was highest at pH 5. LC-MS analysis was performed to explore MB degradation products formed during Fe 3+ /O 3 treatment. Five main degradation products were observed, with the main pathway involving the generation of P1, P2, and P3. Based on the results, the Fe 3+ /O 3 method is considered efficient for wastewater treatment. This study highlights the Fe 3+ /O 3 method as a sustainable solution for the degradation of dyes from textile wastewater.

Keywords: catalytic ozonation; Fe 3+ catalyst; Methylene Blue; Methyl Orange; synthetic dyes (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/17/18/8349/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/17/18/8349/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:17:y:2025:i:18:p:8349-:d:1751672

Access Statistics for this article

Sustainability is currently edited by Ms. Alexandra Wu

More articles in Sustainability from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().