Abstract
Sonochemical reaction in water with 10 mM tert-butanol as radical scavenger was investigated at
various irradiation time. Sonochemical reaction was estimated from degradation rate of methylene blue in
water. All experiments were carried out under the same acoustic power of 10 W measured by calorimetry at the
ultrasonic frequency of 410 kHz. The degradation rates of methylene blue decreased with increasing
irradiation time. In addition, multi-bubble sonoluminescence spectra from air-saturated water with 10 mM
tert-butanol were measured in the range of 257-540 nm. The sonoluminescence intensity decreased with
increasing irradiation time. The shape of the continuum of sonoluminescence spectra changed with increasing
irradiation time. Some studies have reported that the sonolysis of alcohols yielded CO2 and other degradation
products. The others reported that the sonochemical reaction and sonoluminescence in CO2-aerated solution
were significantly suppressed as compared with air-aerated solution at high frequency ultrasound irradiation.
In this study, the lower sonoluminescence intensities from water and the less sonochemical reactions in
methylene blue solution were attributed to degradation products of tert-butanol.
