Investigation of the electrochemical treatment for distillery wastewater.

The treatability study of distillery wastewater by electrochemical (EC) oxidation technique as pretreatment has been carried out. Batch experiments were conducted using stainless steel plates as electrodes to assess the effects of operating parameters such as pH, electrolysis duration (ED) and current density (CD). The EC treatment removed 58% COD at current density 0.12 A cm(-2) and at wastewater pH 3 with 120 min of ED. The BOD to COD ratio increased from 0.25 to 0.76 indicating considerable improvement in wastewater biodegradability. The maximum anodic efficiency and minimum energy consumption observed were 7.44 kg COD h(-1) A(-1) m(-2) and 0.19 kWh kg(-1) COD respectively.