Indirect Electrochemical Oxidation Using Active Chlorine for Treating Distillery Effluent

Abstract

All over the world, individuals are worried about the availability of safe drinking water and sanitation. According to the United Nations, there are billions of people who do not have access to clean drinking water. If not adequately treated, wastewater from industrial, domestic, and agricultural operations can harm water quality, human health, and aquatic ecosystems. Electrochemical wastewater treatment technologies are effective, selective, and disinfect in‐situ because of their electrochemical nature. This study aimed to assess the usability and effectiveness of indirect‐electrochemical oxidation (IEO) methods for distillery industrial wastewater (DIW) by measuring treatment efficiency and consumption of electrical energy (CEE). The impact of operational parameters, such as current (0.07–3.4 Amp), pH (3–11), chemical oxygen demand (COD) (500–2500 mg L −1 ), supporting electrolyte concentration (SEC) (2–10 g L −1 ), types of electrolyte (NaCl, KCl, Na 2 SO 4 , and Na 2 CO 3 ), and electrode gap (2–4 cm), on the removal of % COD and CEE were investigated. The most effective electrolyte was found to be NaCl. The experiments with COD = 1000 mg L −1 , SEC = 6 g L −1 , stirring speed (SS) = 300 rpm, electrode gap (EG) = 2 cm, current = 0.27 Amp, and pH = 6 were established as the optimum level. For these conditions, it was observed that the COD removal was 85% and CEE was 19.38 kWhr kg COD −1 , respectively. After a period of 6 h of operation, it has been observed that the IEO process offers a significant removal efficiency with respect to the parameters of operation for wastewater. The UV/Vis‐spectrophotometer was employed to evaluate the color removal and oxidation of organic compounds. As a result of the experimental results, the IEO process appears to be a better technology for eliminating contaminants from wastewater while using required electrical energy.