Performance Investigation of Electrochemical Treatment Process on Wastewater of Applicable Decolorization Resins in Sugar Factories

Abstract

The industrial waste water is considered as a serious threat to environment. Industries with high pollution load of chemical oxygen demand (COD) and biological oxygen demand such as sugar industries has a major role in environmental pollution. The aim of this study was to investigate the treatment possibility of this wastewater by using the electrochemical method. For this purpose quality parameters such as COD, color, turbidity and total dissolved solids (TDS) were investigated. The decrease of color, turbidity COD and TDS from effluent has been investigated at different voltages (10.8, 16.3 and 27.9 V) and various electrolysis times (10, 25 and 40 min) by using different electrodes (Al, Fe) at 4 cm middle distance. Experimental results demonstrated that the electrochemical process by using electrocoagulation and flocculation mechanisms can decrease color, turbidity and COD to 90.8, 98.9 and 50.5 %, respectively. The electrochemical process increased in pH with no considerable effect on the TDS of the effluent by water reclamation on the cathode side. Results showed that electrochemical process without additives could eliminate greatly various containments of wastewater. Therefore, an appropriate method for treating of wastewater can be designed and implemented.