Electrochemical treatment of sugar industry wastewater: process optimization by response surface methodology

Wastewater from sugar industry has multiple combinations of organic and inorganic contaminants. It has an adverse impact on nearby environment and requires specific type of treatment to minimize the effect. To treat the sugar industry wastewater, an attempt has been made with the electrochemical process by using aluminum electrode. Four process parameters were selected, namely initial pH (pH 4-10), current density (44.5-133.5A/m(2)), electrode spacing (10-20mm), and experimental time (20-100min) to optimize the condition with surface response methodology. At optimum condition maximum, 69.2% chemical oxygen demand and 88.6% color reduction were archived at pH 7, current 1A, electrode distance 1.5cm and treatment time 60min. The coefficient of the model predicted (R-2) value of 0.87 and 0.48, and adjusted (R-2) value of 0.64 and 0.45 for chemical oxygen demand and color reduction were obtained. The physicochemical characteristic indicates that settling sludge has more inorganic material as compared to floating sludge; hence, settling sludge has low calorific value than floating sludge. [GRAPHICS] .