Studies on the Treatment of Rice Mill Effluent by Electrocoagulation

Abstract

Rice mill effluent contains high concentration of organic and inorganic substances leading to significant source of pollution. The effluent has high Biological oxygen demand (BOD), Chemical oxygen demand (COD), and Total Dissolved solid (TDS). The major advantage of electrocoagulation is that it avoids the usage of any chemicals and so there is no need for neutralizing agents. The effective performance of this technique in the treatment of rice mill wastewater has been investigated using a combination of aluminum and iron electrodes. After the treatment, BOD, COD, and dissolved solids were sufficiently reduced. In addition, it was found that an increase in the current density enhanced the speed of the treatment significantly and the Fe-Fe electrode combination gave the highest removal efficiency.