Treatment of fruit juice concentrate wastewater by electrocoagulation: Optimization of COD removal

Abstract

Depending on the growing population and the developing industry, wastewater is encountered with different characteristics and higher temperatures each passing day. For this reason, researches are under way for new treatment methods that will respond to needs in terms of cost and remediation. In this study, treatment of fruit juice concentrate wastewater has been examined by electrocoagulation (EC). For this purpose, the optimum conditions for the best COD removal were investigated. In the EC process, different electrodes (aluminum, iron and steel), pH (5.5,7, 8 and 9) and current (0.6, 0.8 and 1.0 A) were studied, respectively. The results showed that the optimum COD and color removal were obtained as 66%, 98% respectively when the applied electrode pair were Al(+)/Fe(-), cell current was 0,8A and wastewater pH was 5.5 in 10 min. Also, the operating cost was calculated for the optimized treatment conditions of 1 m3 fruit juice wastewater as 2.69 US$.