Electrochemical treatment of vinasse from beet molasses

In this work the results from a new technique are presented in which the vinasse from beet molasses is treated by electrolysis. By this technique, sodium chloride is added in the wastewater and the mixture passes through a electrolytic cell. A number of experiments was run in an laboratory scale pilot plant. In the electrochemical process chlorine, chlorates and other oxidants are produced. Because of the strong oxidizing potential of the chemicals produced the organic pollutants were wet oxidized to carbon dioxide and water. The results obtained have shown that the treatment depends on the catalytic activity of the anode used, the COD loading rates and the pH of the solution. The best results for sodium chloride concentration 4%, temperature 42°C, 72,000 mg/l influent COD conc were found to be the following: pH 9.5 and vinasse feed rate 30 ml/min. Under these conditions the COD reduction was 20 g/h/A/m² and the COD conc of the effluent was 8000 mg/l. These results have shown that the electrochemical treatment of beet vinasse can be efficient and feasible.