Rapid Mineralization of Rhodamine B Wastewater by Microwave Synergistic Fenton-Like Oxidation Process

The coulpling method of microwave irradiation and Fenton-like reaction with magnetic nanomaterials of CuFe2O4 as the catalyst was used for degradation of Rhodamine B wastewater. Factors affecting the degradation rate of Rhodamine B such as H2O2 dosage, CuFe2O4 dosage, Rhodamine B initial concentration, reaction temperature and so on were investigated systematically. The experimental results showed that the microwave-assisted Fenton-like process using H2O2/CuFe2O4 was the most effective treatment process compared with other methods. Unlike the conventional Fenton reactions, which are catalyzed by homogeneous catalysts/promoters, the nanopowder CuFe2O4 catalyst is easily collected by an external magnetic field and remains efficient in reuse. The results showed that under the given conditions (80°C, pH = 4, Rhodamine B initial concentration = 100mg/L, CuFe2O4 dose = 0.375g/L, H2O2 dose = 2.5mL/L, Reaction time = 2min), the removal rate of Rhodamine B could reach nearly 100%. Moreover, the COD determination results showed that under above conditions, the COD value could reach zero.