Application of Electrocoagulation Process in Treatment of Tea Factory Effluent: A Case Study of Emrok Tea Factory Nandi County

Abstract

Large quantities of tea wastes are usually discarded into the environment without any treatment. This discharge of untreated wastewater into the ecosystem has substantial impacts on the environment and human health. The study sought to establish, evaluate and analyse the effect of optimizing electrocoagulation operating variables on removal efficiency, . An experimental design using response surface methodology of full factorial design with three factors at two levels was used to optimize and investigate the influence of current intensity, electrode distance and electrolysis time process variables on removal efficiency of colour and reduction of COD in tea effluent. Design Expert 9 statistical software was used to analyse the data and carry out optimization using response surface methodology. Analysis of variance (ANOVA) was used to check the adequacy of the mathematical models. The findings of the study was that at optimal conditions of colour and COD removal were 99.43 % and 98.62 % respectively at Electrolysis time of 18 minutes, Electrode distance of 6 mm and current intensity of 250 mA/cm2. In conclusion EC provides the most feasible alternative for treatment of tea effluent with a view of COD reduction and colour removal.