Treatment Of Synthetic Wastewater Containing Rhodamine B (Rhb) Via The Electrochemical Fenton (Ecf) Process: Modeling And Optimization Using Box-Behnken Design (Bbd)

Abstract

Investigations were conducted using iron plates as electrodes for the batch mode electrochemical Fenton (ECF) to treat synthetic Rhodamine B (RhB) effluent. The Box-Behnken Design (BBD) approach within the response surface methodology (RSM) was employed to develop a mathematical model and optimize process parameters for colour removal efficiency (CRE) (%) of the RhB model dye. The influence of process variables was investigated and optimised using four factors with three levels of BBD. The optimal circumstances for colour removal were pH 3.0, a current density of 97.76 A/m², an RhB concentration of 52.33 ppm, and an electrolysis time of 9.83 minutes. A maximum CRE of 99.57% and a desirability of 0.99 were attained in these conditions.  Three replicate experiments were conducted to validate these optimum conditions, resulting in an average CRE of 98.77%, which closely matched the predictions of the regression model.