Application of Box-Behnken design to mineralization and color removal of palm oil mill effluent by electrocoagulation process

• Published in: Environmental science and pollution research international Vol. 30; no. 28; pp. 71741 - 71753
• Main Authors: Rakhmania, Kamyab, Hesam, Yuzir, Muhammad Ali, Al-Qaim, Fouad Fadhil, Purba, Laila Dina Amalia, Riyadi, Fatimah Azizah
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Berlin/Heidelberg Springer Berlin Heidelberg 01-06-2023; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Aluminum; Aquatic Pollution; Atmospheric Protection/Air Quality Control/Air Pollution; Chemical oxygen demand; Circular Economy for Global Water Security; Color; Color removal; Earth and Environmental Science; Ecotoxicology; Effluents; Electric potential; Electrocoagulation; Electrocoagulation - methods; Electrode materials; Electrolysis; Electrolytes; Environment; Environmental Chemistry; Environmental Health; Environmental science; Grease; Greases; Industrial Waste - analysis; Mineralization; Optimization; Palm Oil; Response surface methodology; Variance analysis; Voltage; Waste Disposal, Fluid - methods; Waste Water Technology; Water Management; Water Pollution Control; Electrode materials; Organic removal; Response surface methodology; Wastewater treatment; Color removal
• ISSN: 1614-7499; 0944-1344; 1614-7499
• DOI: 10.1007/s11356-021-16197-z

In this study, palm oil mill effluent (POME) was treated using electrocoagulation, whereby the influencing factors including voltage, electrolysis time, and electrolyte amount were optimized to achieve the highest chemical oxygen demand (COD) and color removal efficiencies. Graphite was selected as electrode material due to its performance better compared to aluminum and copper. Response surface methodology (RSM) was carried out for optimization of the electrocoagulation operating parameters. The best model obtained using Box-Behnken design (BBD) were quadratic for COD removal (
R
2
= 0.9844), color reduction (
R
2
= 0.9412), and oil and grease removal (
R
2
= 0.9724). The result from the analysis of variance (ANOVA) was obtained to determine the relationship between factors and treatment efficiencies. The experimental results under optimized conditions such as voltage 14, electrolysis time of 3 h, and electrolyte amount of 13.41 g/L show that the electrocoagulation process effectively reduced the COD (56%), color (65%), and oil and grease (99%) of the POME treatment.
Graphical abstract