Abstract:
The color and Chemical Oxygen Demand (COD) reduction in distillery industrial effluent (DIW) was investigated
utilizing photo (UV), sono (US), electrocoagulation (EC), UV + US, UV + EC, US + EC, and US + UV + EC
technologies. The empirical study demonstrated that the UV + US + EC process removed almost 100% of color
and 95.63% of COD from DIW while consuming around 6.97 kWh m− 3 of electrical energy at the current density
of 0.175 A dm− 2
, COD of 3600 mg L− 1
, UV power of 32 W, US power of 100 W, electrode pairings of Fe/Fe,
inter–electrode distance of 0.75 cm, pH of 7, and reaction time of 4 h, respectively. The values found were much
greater than those produced using UV, US, EC, UV + US, UV + EC, and US + EC methods. The influence of
various control variables such as treatment time (1–5 h), current density (0.075–2.0 A dm− 2
), COD (1800–6000
mg L− 1
), inter-electrode distance (0.75–3.0 cm), electrode pairings (Fe/Fe, Fe/Al, Al/Fe, Al/Al), UV (8–32 W),
and US (20–100 W) on the color and COD reduction were investigated to determine the optimum operating
conditions. It was observed that, an increase in treatment time, current density, UV and US power, decrease in
the COD, and inter-electrode distance with Fe/Fe electrode combination improved the COD removal efficiency.
The UV and US + EC processes’ synergy index was investigated and reported. The results showed that, the US +
UV + EC treatment combination was effective in treating industrial effluent and wastewater.
