Process Optimization of Effective Partition Constant in Progressive Freeze Concentration of Wastewater

Copyright © 2013 Mazura Jusoh et al. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. Response surface methodology (RSM) was employed to optimize the process parameters for effective partition constant (K) in progressive freeze concentration (PFC) of wastewater. The effects of coolant temperature, circulation flowrate, initial solution concentration and circulation time on the effective partition constant were observed. Results show that the data were adequately fitted into a second-order polynomial model. The linear and quadratic of independent variables, coolant temperature, circulation flowrate, initial solution concentration and circulation time as well as their interactions have significant effects on the effective partition constant. It was predicted that the optimum process parameters within the experimental ranges for the best K would be with coolant temperature of −8.8˚C, circulation flowrate of 1051.1 ml/min, initial solution concentration of 6.59 mg/ml and circulation time of 13.9 minutes. Under these conditions, the effective partition constant is predicted to be 0.17