Optimization of treatment of grey wastewater using Electro-Fenton technique – Modeling and validation

• Application of E-Fenton process for grey wastewater treatment.
• Response surface methodology was applied to study the process.
• Second order polynomial regression model was developed.
• ANOVA shows significance of interactive effects.
• Experimental values showed good agreement with predicted values.

In this present study, grey wastewater was treated using Electro-Fenton (E-Fenton) process. The aim of this research was to optimize the operating parameters in E-Fenton process such as current density, H2O2/Fe2+ molar ratio, electrode distance and initial pH for the removal of chemical oxygen demand (COD) and total suspended solids (TSS) from grey wastewater using response surface methodology (RSM). Four factors three levels Box–Behnken response surface design (BBD) was used for the optimization of process parameters. Mathematical models were developed with high coefficient determination values and the numerical optimization method was used for optimization. Under the optimum conditions such as current density of 10 mA cm−2, H2O2/Fe2+ molar ratio of 0.70, treatment time of 14 min and pH of 4 shows 90% of COD removal and 85% of TSS removal.