Optimization of the pretreatment of wastewater from a slaughterhouse and packing plant through electrocoagulation in a batch reactor

Abstract

ABSTRACTThe purpose of this study is to evaluate the removal of chemical oxygen demand (COD), turbidity and color of wastewater from a pig slaughterhouse and packing plant through the electrochemical technique and to optimize the ΔV (electric potential difference) and HRT (hydraulic retention time) variables in an electrocoagulation batch reactor using aluminum electrodes. The experimental design used was rotatable central composite design. For turbidity, the values for removal efficiency obtained varied from 92.85% to 99.28%; for color, they varied from 81.34% to 98.93% and for COD, they varied from 58.61% to 81.01%. The best optimized conditions of treatment were at 25 min for the HRT and 25 V for the ΔV, which correspond to electrical current of 1.08 A and a current density of 21.6 mA cm−2. The aluminum residue varied from 15.254 to 54.291 mg L−1 and the cost of the treatment was US$4.288 m−3. The novelty of the work was the simultaneous optimization of three response variables using the desirability function applied to the treatment of wastewater from slaughterhouses.