Treatment of Wastewater in The Fruit and Vegetable Process Industries (FVPI) Through Electrocoagulation Process- Analysis Using RSM

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to investigate and validate the use of zinc-copper (Zn-Cu) electrodes in electrocoagulation technology for the efficient treatment of wastewater produced by the fruit and vegetable processing industries (FVPI). The wastewater was characterized both before and after treatment to confirm the effectiveness of this treatment method. Using a laboratory electrocoagulation system, the effects of various parameters, such as charged voltage (1-30 V), agitation speed (90-150 rpm), and settling time (20-60 min), on conductivity, COD removal, and turbidity removal in FVPI wastewater were investigated. The Box-Behnken Design (BBD) and Response Surface Methodology (RSM) were used to optimize the electrocoagulation procedure. A model was developed to depict the treatment procedure. The optimal parameters were 45 minutes for settling, 150 rpm for running, and 29.6 A for voltage, which removed 75% of the turbidity, 93% of COD and reduced conductivity to 971 µS/cm from the effluent. The regression model's predictions are accurate, as evidenced by the correlation between the predicted value for conductivity, turbidity and COD removal percentage are 0.8659, 0.8665 and 0.7245 and the measured values are 0.9390, 0.9862 and 0.8361 respectively. A prediction model describing the contaminant removal in terms of process factors was produced via multiple regression analysis. The model equation appears to be valid based on the coefficient of regression (R 2 ) value of 0.9651, 0.9961 and 0.8712 for conductivity, turbidity and COD respectively. To enhance and increase FVPI wastewater electrocoagulation treatment, the RSM via BBD can be used.