Abstract

Application of response surface methodology for optimization of chemical coagulation process to treat rice mill wastewater

Author(s): K.Thirugnanasambandham, V.Sivakumar, J.Prakash Maran, S.Kandasamy

In this present study, chemical coagulationmethod (CC) using ferric chloride was used to treat the rice millwastewater and the effects of initial pH, ferric chloride dose and agitation speed on the removal of COD, turbidity and total suspended solids were investigated using Box-Behnken response surface design. The experimental results show that CC could be effectively reduced the COD (91%), turbidity (87%) and TSS (83 %) at the optimum conditions of pH 7, ferric chloride dose of 2.5 g/l, and agitation speed of 30 rpm respectively. The experimental results were in reasonable agreement with the predicted values. These results show that, effectiviness of CC as an effective pre-treatment in wastewater treatment.