Photocatalytic treatment of synthetic wastewater containing Reactive blue 19 (RB19) dye using WO3 nanoparticles

The aim of this study is to evaluate the photocatalytic treatment of synthetic wastewater containing reactive blue 19 dye using tungsten trioxide (WO3) nanoparticles. Reactive blue 19 dye is an antraquinone dye and resistant to biological and chemical treatment. Photocatalytic degradation of reactive blue 19 dye in WO3-suspension was performed by putting the samples under UV and visible irradiation. In this study the effects of 4 parameters such as irradiation time, initial concentration of RB19, nanoparticles dosage and initial pH were investigated.The results revealed that the photocatalytic process efficiency under UV irradiation is higher than visible irradiation. The highest efficiency of dye and COD removal was 95 and 87 percent respectively, obtained by 4hr irradiation, at dye concentration of 10mg/l, initial pH of 2 and presence of 1gr/l WO3 nanoparticles. WO3 nanoparticles showed a suitable performance for COD RB19 dye removal. The removal efficiency was increased by increasing of nanoparticles dosage up to 1gr/l and decreased by adding more nanoparticles. The efficiency also decreased by increasing initial dye concentration.