Degradation study of reactive violet 1 by gamma radiation

The radiolytic degradation of reactive violet 1 dye in aqueous media as a model system was carried out. the dye solutions (10 to 50 mg/l) were irradiated to the absorbed doses of 2,5,10 and 15 kgy using co-60 gamma radiation source. the change in absorbance,decrease in chemical oxygen demand (cod) and degree of decolouration were investigated in presence of oxygen and hydrogen peroxide. the degraded end products in treated samples were identified using fourier transform infrared (ftir) and gas chromatography- mass spectrometry (gc-ms). complete decolouration and 80 % cod reduction achieved when dye solutions were exposed to the radiation absorbed dose of 15 kgy. evaluation of radiolytic end products revealed that dye molecules were completely breakdown into fragments of lower molecular masses.