Electrochemical Pretreatment of Wastewater from Bulk Drug Manufacturing Industry
Publication: Journal of Environmental Engineering
Volume 135, Issue 8
Abstract
The present study involves the treatment of high strength Bulk Drug Industry Wastewater by electrochemical method. The treatability studies were carried out with four different electrodes made of mild steel, aluminum, carbon, and stainless steel. The treatment efficiencies for chemical oxygen demand (COD)/biochemical oxygen demand (BOD), color, and heavy metal removals were assessed at different electrolysis time. A comparative study for heavy metal removal between chemical precipitation using aluminum and electrocoagulation with aluminum electrode has shown electrocoagulation to be more effective. Carbon electrode has shown COD removal of 34.0% and high ratio of 0.581 at 120-min exposure time. Among all electrodes, aluminum was found as the most efficient in removal of color, suspended solids, and heavy metals with the least energy consumption of and anode efficiency of . After electrochemical treatment, certain increase in BOD/COD ratio attributed to increase in biodegradability of wastewater. The study reveals that the wastewater could be effectively pretreated by electrochemical method.
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Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Journal of Environmental Engineering
Volume 135 • Issue 8 • August 2009
Pages: 716 - 719
Copyright
© 2009 ASCE.
History
Received: Feb 15, 2008
Accepted: Nov 11, 2008
Published online: Mar 9, 2009
Published in print: Aug 2009
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