An Application of the Taguchi Method (Robust Design) to Environmental Engineering: Evaluating Advanced Oxidative Processes in Polyester-Resin Wastewater Treatment

Abstract

This paper presents the Taguchi Method, a statistical design modelling for experiments applied in environmental engineering. This method was applied to optimize the treatment conditions of polyester-resin effluent by means of Advanced Oxidative Processes (AOPs) using chemical oxygen demand (COD) as response parameter. The influence of each independent parameter including respective interactions was evaluated by Taguchi Method, which allowed determining the most statistically significant variables and conditions to best fit the process. Results showed that Taguchi Method is a very useful tool for environmental engineering field and possible simplifications of analysis and calculations through commercially available software.