The objective of the present study is to find out the optimum extraction conditions for extraction of polyphenols from red grapes using Box-Behnken design. Red grapes polyphenols were extracted using acid-ethanol solvent at various extraction temperature (40-60°C), extraction time (20-100 min) and different solid-liquid ratio (1:5-1:15 g:ml). The effect (main and interactive) of extraction conditions on total anthocyanin, phenolic and flavonoid content were studied using Box-Behnken design (three factors at three levels). The results showed that the contribution of the quadratic model was significant for all the responses. Second-order mathematical regression models were developed and were found to fit well with observed data. Derringer's desirability function methodology was performed to find out the optimal conditions based on both individual and combinations of all responses (extraction temperature: 57°C, time: 61 min, and solid-liquid ratio: 1:8.7 g:ml) were established. At this optimal condition, the anthocyanin yield, total phenolic and flavonoid content were 73.92 mg/100 g, 221.4 mg GAE/100 g, and 79.08 mg CE/100 g, respectively. A desirability value of 0.902 was achieved at this point.

In this present study, bagasse based pulp and paper industry wastewater was treated under different operating conditions such as initial pH (6-8), temperature (25-35 o C) and contact time (3-7 days) by using Bacillus subtilis. Response surface methodology (RSM) coupled with Box-Behnken response surface design (BBD) was employed to investigate the effect of process variables on the responses such as turbidity, biological oxygen demand (BOD) and chemical oxygen demand (COD) removal. The experimental data were analyzed by Pareto analysis of variance (ANOVA) and the second order polynomial models were developed. Interactive effects of the process variables on the responses were studied using plotting 3D response surface contour graph and the optimum process conditions were found to be: initial pH of 7, temperature of 30 o C and contact time of 5 days. Under these conditions, removal efficiencies of turbidity, BOD and COD were found to be 85%, 93% and 80% respectively which are close agreement with real experiments. These results indicate that the treatment of bagasse based pulp and paper industry wastewater using Bacillus subtilis is an effective and novel technique.

Removal of COD and TSS from rice mill wastewater was investigated using continuous electrocoagulation method (CEC). The electrical energy consumption (EEC) of the process was also examined in order to evaluate the economic viability. The Box-Behnken statistical experiment design (BBD) and response surface methodology (RSM) were used to investigate the effects of major operating variables. Initial pH, current density, electrode distance and flow rate were selected as independent variables in BBD while COD removal, TSS removal and EEC were considered as the response functions. The predicted values of responses obtained using the response function was in good agreement with the experimental data. Optimum operating conditions were found to be pH of 7, current density of 15 mA cm −2 , electrode distance of 5 cm and flow rate of 70 ml/min. Under these conditions, greater than 89% removal of COD and TSS were obtained with EEC value of 7 KWh.