• Avinash Prasad
• Dr.Pratibha Gautam

Pharmaceutical wastewater is considered as one of the primary source of environmental pollution. Their occurrence, fate and transformation in the environment are causing significant concerns. The presence of a high COD, dissolved organic nitrogen, total solids, chloride, and complex compounds, etc. makes pharmaceutical wastewater more toxic and unfit. Electrocoagulation (EC) is a process in which electric current is supplied to sacrificial electrodes for the removal of pharmaceutical contaminants from wastewater. The study was experimentally investigated taking into account various factors such as current density (30-100mA/cm2), distance between the electrodes (10–15mm), and electrolysis time (60–120 min) which has impact on the % reduction of chemical oxygen demand (COD), using GI galvanized iron electrode. The response surface design based on the central composite design (CCD) has been used to optimize different process parameters for treatment of pharmaceutical wastewater using Electrocoagulation process. The % reduction of COD under different operating conditions was predicted with the help of a quadratic model. The significance and their interaction with independent variables was assessed by analysis of variance (ANOVA). The optimum operating conditions were obtained through mathematical and statistical methods to reach maximum % COD reduction. The result shows that the maximum reduction of COD (94%) was achieved at pH–7, current density–114.24 mA/cm2, distance between electrodes–10mm and reaction time 132 minutes. This means that, the process of EC can remove pharmaceutical pollutants from pharmaceutical industrial wastewater effluent under different operating conditions.

Electrocoagulation, Pharmaceutical wastewater, response surface methodology

"Treatment Of Pharmaceutical Wastewater By Electrocoagulation & Optimization Using Response Surface Methodology", International Journal of Emerging Technologies and Innovative Research (www.jetir.org), ISSN:2349-5162, Vol.9, Issue 5, page no.k461-k468, May-2022, Available :http://www.jetir.org/papers/JETIR2205B60.pdf

"Treatment Of Pharmaceutical Wastewater By Electrocoagulation & Optimization Using Response Surface Methodology", International Journal of Emerging Technologies and Innovative Research (www.jetir.org | UGC and issn Approved), ISSN:2349-5162, Vol.9, Issue 5, page no. ppk461-k468, May-2022, Available at : http://www.jetir.org/papers/JETIR2205B60.pdf