No abstract

In the present paper, electrocoagulation (EC) has been employed for the reduction of chemical oxygen demand (COD) reduction of a distillery wastewater (biodigester effluent) in a batch EC reactor using aluminum electrode. The individual and interactive effects of the four main independent parameters have been studied on the COD removal efficiency using a central composite experimental design. The parameters studied are current density (j): 44.65-223.25 A/m 2 ; initial pH (pH 0 ): 2-8; inter-electrode distance (g): 1-3 cm; and electrolysis time (t): 30-150 min. Pareto analysis of variance of the results showed a high coefficient of determination value (R 2 =0.9693) and satisfactory prediction for second-order regression model. Maximum COD removal efficiency of 52.23% was obtained with j=120 A/m 2 , pH 0 =6.0, g=1 cm, and t=150 min.