Hydroxylamine enhanced Fe3O4/H2O2 system for removing tartrazine

In recent years, dye wastewater caused serious effects on environmental ecology and human health. Thus, in the present study, hydroxylamine (HA) was used to improve the Fe3O4/H2O2 process for removing the typical dye pollutant (tartrazine). Only 2.8% tartrazine could be removed in Fe3O4/H2O2 system within 60min at the reaction of 1g/L Fe3O4, 1mM H2O2, and pH 4 while 97.5% tartrazine could be removed within 20min after adding 1mM HA into the Fe3O4/H2O2 system. Compared with Fe3O4/H2O2 system, the removal rate for removing tartrazine in Fe3O4-HA/H2O2 system could enhance more than 100 times. Electron paramagnetic resonance tests (EPR), radical quenching experiments and quantitative determination demonstrated that •OH was the major reactive species for removing tartrazine in Fe3O4-HA/H2O2 system and •OH produced concentration in Fe3O4-HA/H2O2 system was also much higher than that in Fe3O4/H2O2 system. The key factors affecting tartrazine removal in Fe3O4-HA/H2O2 system were also conducted. The optimal HA dosage, Fe3O4 dosage, and H2O2 dosage was 1mM, 1g/L and 1mM. The optimal initial pH in Fe3O4-HA/H2O2 system was 3, but compared with Fe3O4/H2O2 system, the tatrazine removal efficiency could significantly improve under any initial pH condition. Fe3O4-HA/H2O2 process had strong adaptability to inorganic ions and good applicability to different pollutants. Fe3O4-HA/H2O2 process also exhibited good recycle ability for tartrazine removal. Overall, Fe3O4-HA/H2O2 process is an effective and good practical applicability approach for dye wastewater treatment.