Taguchi-Based Process Optimization for Improving Iron Removal from Water Using Electrocoagulation Technique

Abstract

The objective of this study is to remove iron from the aqueous solution by electrocoagulation (EC) process due to its simple setup and cost-effectiveness. Aluminum was chosen as the suitable material for the electrodes. In this study, the effect of different process parameters (viz. the initial concentrations of iron, the current intensity, the conductivity of the aqueous solution, the inter-electrode distance, and the initial pH of solution) was studied. Taguchi experimental design with an L16 orthogonal array was utilized to determine the optimal conditions for iron removal. The experiments were conducted at four different levels with the five process parameters. The ranges of the experimental parameters were chosen as an initial iron concentration: 15–30 ppm, current intensity: 0.50–1.25 A, inter-electrode distance: 8–14 mm, conductivity: 345–375 μS, and initial pH: 5–8. The processing time of the study was kept constant for all the experiments. The percentage of removal of iron was taken as the response for Taguchi analysis. The optimized conditions were found to be 15 ppm of initial concentration, 1.25 A of current intensity, and 8 mm of inter-electrode distance with insensitive to the range of values carried out for conductivity and initial pH of the solution. The decreasing order of sensitivity of the process parameters was found to be as initial concentration, inter-electrode distance, current intensity, pH of the solution, and conductivity.