Influence of operating parameters on treatment of egg processing effluent by electrocoagulation process

The treatment of egg processing effluent was investigated in a batch electrocoagulation reactor using aluminum as sacrificial electrodes. The influence of operating parameters such as electrode distance, stirring speed, electrolyte concentration, pH, current density and electrolysis time on percentage turbidity, chemical oxygen demand and biochemical oxygen demand removal were analyzed. From the experimental results, 3-cm electrode distance, 150 rpm, 1.5 g/l sodium chloride, pH of 6, 20 mA/cm² current density, and 30-min electrolysis time were found to be optimum for maximum removal of turbidity, chemical oxygen demand and biochemical oxygen demand. The removal of turbidity, chemical oxygen demand and biochemical oxygen demand under the optimum condition was found to be 96, 89 and 84 %, respectively. The energy consumption was varied from 7.91 to 27.16 kWh/m³, and operating cost was varied from 1.36 to 4.25 US $/m³ depending on the operating conditions. Response surface methodology has been employed to evaluate the individual and interactive effects of four independent parameters such as electrolyte concentration (0.5–2.5 g/l), initial pH (4–8), current density (10–30 mA/cm²) and electrolysis time (10–50 min) on turbidity, chemical oxygen demand and biochemical oxygen demand removal. The results have been analyzed using Pareto analysis of variance to predict the responses. Based on the analysis, second-order polynomial mathematical models were developed and found to be good fit with the experimental data.