Treatment of sugar industry effluent using an electrocoagulation process: Process optimization using the response surface methodology

摘要

Wastewater of sugar industries has a high pollutant load due to thepresence of organic and inorganic materials. Discharge of untreated or partiallytreated wastewater has a negative effect on the environment and on the life ofhumans, plants and animals. In our present studies, it was attempted to treatsugar industry effluent (SIE) by an electrocoagulation process (ECP) usingmild steel (MS) as the electrode material. For this purpose, three process parameters, namely pH (5–9), current density (j = 34.7–104 A m-2) and treatmenttime (tR = 20–100 min), were selected to optimize the process using the response surface methodology (RSM). The optimum conditions were pH 6.66, j == 104 A m-2 and tR = 100 min. The maximum chemical oxygen demand (COD)removal of 75.98 % was achieved under the optimum conditions. The predictedmodel by RSM showed R2 = 0.9515. After treatment of the effluent, the sludgecontent in the treated water was separated effectively by filtration and settling.