Optimization of Acid Black 172 decolorization by electrocoagulation using response surface methodology

This paper utilizes a statistical approach, the response surface optimization methodology, to determine theoptimum conditions for the acid black 172 dye removal efficiency from aqueous solution by electrocoagulation.the experimental parameters investigated were initial ph: 4–10; initial dye concentration: 0–600 mg/l; appliedcurrent: 0.5-3.5 a and reaction time: 3–15 min. these parameters were changed at five levels according to thecentral composite design to evaluate their effects on decolorization through analysis of variance. high r2 value of94.48% shows a high correlation between the experimental and predicted values and expresses that thesecond-order regression model is acceptable for acid black 172 dye removal efficiency. it was also found that someinteractions and squares influenced the electrocoagulation performance as well as the selected parameters.optimum dye removal efficiency of 90.4% was observed experimentally at initial ph of 7, initial dye concentrationof 300 mg/l, applied current of 2 a and reaction time of 9.16 min, which is close to model predicted (90%) result.