Monitoring ecotoxicity of disperse red 1 dye during photo-Fenton degradation

•Acute toxicity to Daphnia similis increased after 10 min degradation of disperse red 1.•Maximum concentration of intermediates coincides with highest toxicity.•Most intermediates were formed after addition of •OH to benzenic ring•Mineralization achieved 55% with non-toxic levels after 45 min.

The present work assessed the ecotoxicity of the commercially available form of the azo dye Disperse Red 1 (DR1) and the main degradation products generated during photo-Fenton degradation. The acute toxicity tests with the microcrustacean Daphnia similis showed that toxicity increased after 10 min of treatment, when 35% of the original concentration of the dye has been degraded but without decrease in total organic carbon concentration (TOC). The increase of toxicity was a consequence of generation of degradation products of higher toxicity than DR1, which achieved maximum concentration after 10 min reaction. The structures identified using LC/MS indicated that most of the intermediates were formed after addition of hydroxyl radical to benzenic ring but the cleavage of azo bond was also observed. The intermediates were further degraded and toxicity was then reduced to non toxic levels after 45 min experiment, when 98% of the initial concentration of DR1 was degraded and mineralization achieved 55%. The results of this study showed that the textile dye DR1 can be degraded by photo-Fenton process with removal of acute toxicity to D. similis even with incomplete mineralization.