Photo degradation of the tartrazine dye by means of photofenton, using an ultra violet light lamp

Introduction. All of the production systems demand natural resources to make goods and services, and therefore requires environmental services as inputs and for the disposal of its waste. Food industry is not the exception to this problem, the generation of waste with dyes has a negative impact on all of the water sources in the country, the presence of color in the water deteriorates the aesthetics of water bodies and also generates environmental misbalances because color is an obstacle to the pass of sunlight in the water surface, avoiding the photo synthesis of algae in rivers and brooks. When photo synthesis is avoided, as it is the first link of the food chains, a general misbalance takes place in the ecosystems, because zooplankton and fish species feed from algae, and the economy of villages and towns located at water shores in the country depend mainly on those fish species. Objetive. To evaluate the degradation of the Tartrazine dye using photo catalysis with iron (iii) and an ultra violet light lamp. Materials and methods. An experimental randomized factorial design was used; for the experimental development, we used a photo reactor system, which consists on an ultra violet light lamp, a glass container to keep the sample to be treated and a submersible pump that allows the re-circulation of the solution through the photo reactor system. The degradation of the Tartrazine dye was determined by the use of ultraviolet/visible espectrophotometry. Results. A good percentage of the Tarzatrine dye removal (100,0%) was obtained for the combination of chemical oxidation by using 0 mg/L of Fe3+ and 0,4 % v/v of hydrogen peroxide as oxidation agent, and also the experimental combination of the photo chemical process of homogeneous photo catalysis and the experimental rehearsal of 50 mg/L of Fe3+ and 0,2 % v/v H2O2; It is also considered that the combinations of 0 mg/L of Fe3+ and 0,2 % v/v H2O2 and 50 mg/L of Fe3+ and 0,4 % v/v H2O2 reach very important removal percentages, above 99,0 %, of degradation. Conclusion. Advanced oxidation processes, as homogeneous photo catalysis, are adequate for the removal and elimination of the Tartrazine dye.