Ecology, Environment and Conservation Paper

THE PERFORMANCE OF BATIK WASTEWATER TREATMENT BY ELECTRO COAGULATION PROCESS UNDER VARIATIONS OF ELECTRODES

Budi Utomo, Mohammad Masykuri, Musyawaroh, Aken Puti Wanguyun and Almando Geraldi

Abstract

In this study, the efficiency of electrocoagulation treatment of batik wastewater using various combination of electrodes were investigated. Combination of aluminum (Al), iron (Fe), and stainless steel (Ss) materials were used as anode and cathode to treat batik wastewater in a batch electro chemical reactor. There were four combinations of those metals as anode and cathodes (Al/Fe, Fe/Al, Al/Ss, Ss/Al). The effect of some parameters such as electrodes immersion height, inter electrode distance, and operation time were also examined correlated to color removal efficiency. The results revealed that the optimal operational condition was a treatment with Al as anode and Fe as cathode, fully submerged electrodes in batik wastewater, 1.5 cm distance between electrodes, and at 50 min operation time with 96.45% color removal efficiency. Furthermore,it was noted that there was reduction of chemical oxygen demand (COD) and color approximately 60% and 52% before and after batik wastewater treatment respectively.