EC and EF processes for the treatment of alcohol distillery wastewater

Abstract

In this study, electrochemical treatment of alcohol distillery wastewater using iron electrode with and without the presence of H2O2 was investigated. The effects of sodium sulfate concentration as supporting electrolyte, current density, pH and H2O2 concentration on the removal efficiency were investigated. As a result of the electrofenton (EF) study, COD removal efficiency of 92.6% for an initial COD of 4985 mg/L and TOC removal efficiency of 88.7% for an initial TOC of 1507 mg/L were achieved for the pre-treated alcohol distillery wastewater (PTDW) with the additions of 0.3 M NaSO4 and 60 000 mg/L H2O2 at pH 4. In the same study, specific energy consumption of 0.53 kWh/g COD removed was reached at the cur-rent density of 60 mA/cm(2). On the other hand, electrocoagulation (EC) alone was found ineffective in all experimental conditions studied. According to the results obtained, by contrast with EC, EF process is very efficient for the treatment of alcohol distillery wastewater which has high concentration of refractory organic matters