Removal of Reactive Red 141 Dye from Synthetic Wastewater by Electrocoagulation Process: Investigation of Operational Parameters

Release of textile industries waste especially their dying effluent impose a serious pollution on the environment. Reactive dyes are one of the most used dyes which are recalcitrant to conventional treatment processes. In the performed project, the effectiveness of electrocoagulation process was studied on decolorization. RR141 was selected as model dye and treatment process was performed in a simple batch of electrocoagulation (EC) cell using iron electrodes. Central Composite Design (CCD) was used to plan study runs. Experiments were done under 5 levels of various operational parameters at bench scale. Initial concentration of dye was varied among 50 and 500ppm, pH ranging from 4-12; retention time was ranged between 3-30 minutes, 1-3cm was selected as the distance between electrodes, and current intensity studied under the range of 5-30 mA/cm2. EC treatment process of dyestuff wastewater was satisfactory at high levels of current density, pH, and retention time. While increasing the initial dye concentration and electrodes gap had a negative effect on decolorization performance. Determined optimal conditions to treat 200ml of sample were including pH: 9.68, electrode gap: 1.58cm, dye concentration: 180ppm, retention time: 10.82 minutes, and current intensity: 22.76mA/cm2. Successful removal of the model dye about 99.88% was recorded in the mentioned values of variables. Simple design and operation of the experiments can be an interesting option for implementation and applying of inexpensive electrocoagulation treatment process which was successful to reach nearly a complete decolorization.