Abstract
Wastewater generated by various processing industries resists conventional wastewater treatment due to its complexity and recalcitrant nature. Ozone is a potential oxidant and is used for various types of wastewater treatment applications. Ozone forms no additional sludge, and aids in the removal of color and chemical oxygen demand (COD). The aim of this work is to investigate ozone application as a pretreatment technique for complex industrial wastewater of Hudiara drain and find an appropriate choice of reaction conditions like ozonation time, pH and temperature necessary to increase ozonation process efficiency. Ozone process efficiency is measured in terms of color and COD removal. Results show that increased ozonation time results in increased color and COD removal due to enhanced mass transfer. A 20-minute ozonation time appears to be optimal for further application. Alkaline pH shows significant effect on the ozonation process. A pH value of 9 is optimal reducing color up to 82% and COD to 67% but the effect of temperature is immaterial. Ozonation process followed pseudo-first order reaction kinetics for color and COD removal.
