Dissolved thiosulphate in wastewater contribute significantly towards water pollution. Thiosulphate are toxic and emit foul odour. The main sources of thiosulphate are petrochemical industries, craft mills, tanneries, cellophane and similar polymer processing plants. In petrochemical industry, dissolved thiosulphate generally come from the caustic scrubbing unit for cracker gases.
In the present work, H2O2 in the presence of UV light is used to oxidize the thiosulphate to sulphate. Experimental study was carried out to study the effect of air flow rate, thiosulphate concentration and partial pressure of oxygen in the presence of UV light. It has been established that oxidation rate of thiosulphate to sulphate is higher at higher air flow rate and UV light. Based on experimental study a kinetic model is developed to find the optimum conditions for the oxidation of thiosulphate to sulphate.