Factorial experimental design for removal of Indigo carmine and brilliant yellow dyes from solutions by coagulation

Abstract

Textile and food industries produce huge amounts of wastewaters containing dye residues. When these wastewaters are discharged to receiving surface waters like as lakes and rivers, aesthetically unpleasant situations form. Therefore, these wastewaters should be treated. Wastewater treatment is sometimes an expensive operation and cheap methods should be developed. The removal of Indigo Carmine (I.C., Acid dye) and Brilliant Yellow (B.Y., Azo dye) from synthetically prepared solutions was studied by coagulation using iron chloride salt in a batch reactor at room temperature. As an experimental approach, two leveled factorial design with three factors was applied as a function of pH (4–12), iron chloride amount (0.1–0.4 g/500 mL) and dye concentration (100–200 mg/L). Low pHs supported to removal of these two dyes. The results showed that 100% I.C. dye removal and 90.5% B.Y. dye removal were achieved. The all parameters were statistically insignificant for both the dyes. Indigo Carmine and Brilliant Yellow dyes were removed from solutions successfully. The applied treatment method was evaluated as promising due to low sludge production, low cost, low coagulation duration and high performance. A time span of 5 minutes was found as enough for removals of both of the dyes. After treatment of I.C. and B.Y. dyes by coagulation, the coagulated dyes were determined as unreusable due to iron complex by these dyes. Flocculation was found to be ineffective. A continuous flow reactor was successfully adopted for these dyes.