Electro-catalytic oxidation of reactive Orange 107 using cerium doped oxides of Nd3+ nanoparticle

A new rare earth doped cerium oxide powder was used as a catalyst to investigate the removal of colour and TOC from simulated wastewater of Reactive Orange 107. The electro oxidation process was carried out in the reactor in presence of an electrolyte NaCl. Graphite electrode was used as anode and cathode and electrolysis were carried out at a current density of 34.96 mAcm-2 with a catalyst concentration of 0.05g L-1. In order to find the efficiency of nanocatalyst, experiments were also conducted without catalyst. From the experiment, it was found that complete colour removal was achieved on electrocatalytic oxidation as well as electro oxidation. When comparing the above processes, catalytic oxidation shows more efficient than electro oxidation. With respect to the degradation of the dye, catalytic oxidation shows more TOC removal than the oxidation taken place without catalyst. It infers that even though the electro-catalytic oxidation process achieves complete decolouration but it does not achieve complete mineralisation. The FTIR and GCMS studies confirmed the formation of by-products. (author)