Textile Wastewater Treatment by Electro-Fenton Process in Batch and Continuous Modes

Abstract

Water pollution due to textile wastewater near Tiruppur, Tamil Nadu, is a severe environmental problem. Treatment of this textile wastewater using the electro-Fenton (EF) process was studied in both batch and continuous modes of operation. Commercially available graphite plates were used as both anodes and cathodes. The effect of operational parameters on color and chemical oxygen demand (COD) removal from textile wastewater was studied in batch mode, and the continuous flow mode was run at the optimal conditions obtained from the batch studies. At the optimal conditions in batch mode, 57% of COD and 83% of color from the wastewater were removed. In continuous mode, 67.7% of color and 37% COD were removed using a bubble column reactor. Also, the biodegradability of the textile effluents increased after EF oxidation. From the results obtained, it can be concluded that EF can be used as a pretreatment for removing COD and color from the textile wastewater.