Treatment of rubber industry wastewater by using Fenton reagent and activated carbon

Rubber industries are sufficiently developed and widely spread countryside as well as in some big cities in Indonesia. An Increasing number of rubber industries have also increased rubber wastewater. However, the rubber industry development should pay attention to the impact on the environment. The rubber wastewater is problematic, because of high Chemical Oxygen Demand (COD) content. So far, the methods that have been used to remove COD in the waste water have been proven to be costly and time consuming. The research objective is to treat the rubber wastewater by using a combination of Fenton reagent and activated carbon adsorption. In this study, effect of molar ratios of Fenton reagent, pH, and reaction time on COD degradation were studied. After treating with Fenton reagent, the wastewater was passed into an adsorption column of 20 cm height of activated carbon granules. The maximum COD degradation of 95% were found by using a combination of Fenton reagent and activated carbon, with a molar ratio of reagent Fenton 1:250 and a reaction time of 45 minutes. The final COD of 71 mg/l, TSS of 70 mg/l, and pH of 7.8 were found which fulfilled the environmental quality standard regulation for industrial wastewater in Indonesia