Fenton and Photo-Fenton Oxidation Process on Batik Making Effluents

Wastewater generated from batik making industry contains organics dyes. Dyes are
listed in the Environment Quality Act 1974 as schedule waste. Thus, it is imperative to
treatthe wastewater. In this project, Fenton reaction is used to treatthe wastewater from
the batik making factory. Initial analysis was done for the wastewater and the
characteristics of the wastewater were identified before proceeding with the
experimental procedure. Two characteristics of waste water was monitored which are
the Chemical Oxygen Demand (COD) and the color changes. The COD reading was
taken by using HACH method 8000. The COD reading was measured inmg/L COD and
the color was measured in term of its appearance and changes. For the reaction, two
parameters were fixed which are the pH and the temperature. pH is fixed at 5, whereas
the temperature was fixed at 30°C. Fenton reaction used two types of chemicals, which
are FeS04 and H202. The chemicals are the variable parameters in these experiments
because we vary the doses of the reagent. The chemicals were mixed to a blended
reagent according to the ratio needed. The efficiency of the treatment is determined by
varying the ratio of Fe: H202. The decreasing value of the COD and diminished color
was monitored to see the process efficiency. Comparison of the efficiency was also
determined between exposing the treatment process to radiation oflight and keeping it in
dark environment. Under light source radiation experiment is called photo-Fenton
experiment, meanwhile for dark environment experiment is called Fenton experiment. It
was found that the ratio of 1: 25 of photo-Fenton gives the best efficiency. Exposing the
process to lightshowed betterprocess efficiency.