Removal of total suspended solids from dairy wastewater using an electrocoagulation cell in the district of Ayaviri, Puno, Perú

Abstract

The effluents generated in the processing of dairy products are discharged into the sewage system without prior treatment, which causes pollution problems due to the emission of foul odors from the overflow of wastewater at the treatment plant in the district of Ayaviri, Puno, Peru. In this sense, the main objective of this research work was to provide a viable and technical treatment option to remove total suspended solids from dairy wastewater through electrocoagulation using a factorial design in triplicate. Therefore, a laboratory-scale electrocoagulation system with a volume of 1.5 L was developed using aluminum (anode) and iron (cathode) electrodes with a distance of 1 cm from each other and a contact area between the sample and the electrodes of 0.08253 m2. An optimum treatment time of 35 minutes and a current density of 84.81 A/m2 was determined, achieving a TSS removal of 94.11%. Finally, it is concluded that it was possible to significantly reduce the level of concentration of total suspended solids in the wastewater generated in the processing of dairy products in the district of Ayaviri, Puno, Peru.