Reactor design optimization on the electrocoagulation treatment of sugarcane molasses-based distillery wastewater

Electrode geometry and configuration were optimized for the electrocoagulation treatment of sugarcane molasses – based distillery wastewater. Four different reactors, — bipolar plates (BP), monopolar plates (MP), bipolar rods (BR), and monopolar rods (MR) — were constructed and compared based on their ability to reduce the following wastewater parameters.: Chemical Oxygen Demand (COD), Biochemical Oxygen Demand (BOD), Total Suspended Solids (TSS), turbidity, and oil and grease. Other electrocoagulation parameters such as current supplied, applied voltage, aspect ratio, and specific electrode area were held constant. The BP reactor yielded the highest reduction percentage among the parameters: COD = 43%, BOD = 49%, TSS = 47%, turbidity = 54%, and oil and grease = 79. Moreover, the BP reactor gave the least metal consumption at 0.47 kg/m³ after 1.5 hours of treatment, thus making it the best reactor design among the four reactors considered. (paper)