These OH ions are removed by
increasing H +
ion concentration on decreasing pH. This will
facilitate the Eq. (1) forming more OH radicals, which will
be utilized for oxidative degradation of RB as well as thiocya-nate radical. On decreasing the pH further i.e. below 4.0, the
reaction rate decreases again. It may be attributed to the fact
that Eq. (2) starts dominating over Eq. (1) as Fe(OH) 3 is less
soluble than Fe(OH) 2 and the generation of OH radicals by
Eq. (2) is retarded at lower pH than 4.0 ( Dean, 1978)