Reduction of chlorophenols and sludge management from paper industry wastewater using electrocoagulation process

ABSTRACT

In this study, electrocoagulation (EC) was used to determine the optimum conditions on the basis of maximum chemical oxygen demand (COD) and color removal. At the optimum conditions chlorophenols (CPs), biological oxygen demand and total organic carbon (TOC) were determined. The biodegradability of wastewater was increased significantly with 63% COD, 98% color, 61% TOC and overall 65.51% reductions in CPs. Further, the electro-coagulated sludge was characterized by using different analytical techniques to assist the physicochemical and elemental phases, to find-out better management option, reusability for plant growth and safe disposal. Additionally, aluminum content (70.62%) was successfully recovered from sludge.