Institute of Chemistry, University of Silesia, Szkolna 9, 40-007 Katowice, Poland
Josef Jampilek
Department of Analytical Chemistry, Faculty of Natural Sciences, Comenius University, Ilkovicova 6, 842 15 Bratislava, Slovakia
Aleksander Sochanik
Center for Translational Research and Molecular Biology of Cancer, Maria Sklodowska-Curie Memorial Cancer Center and Institute of Oncology, Wybrzeze AK 15, 44-101 Gliwice, Poland
Adam Smolinski
Department of Energy Saving and Air Protection, Central Mining Institute, Plac Gwarkow 1, 40 166 Katowice, Poland
Andrzej Bak
Institute of Chemistry, University of Silesia, Szkolna 9, 40-007 Katowice, Poland
The potential implementation of Envifer®, a commercial product containing potassium ferrate (40.1% K2FeO4), for the purification of highly contaminated tannery wastewater from leather dyeing processes was proposed. The employment of the Taguchi method for optimization of experiments allowed the discoloration (98.4%), chemical oxygen demand (77.2%), total organic carbon (75.7%), and suspended solids (96.9%) values to be lowered using 1.200 g/L K2FeO4 at pH 3 within 9 min. The application of the central composite design (CCD) and the response surface methodology (RSM) with the use of 1.400 g/L K2FeO4 at pH 4.5 diminished the discoloration, the chemical oxygen demand, the total organic carbon, and suspended solids within 9 min. The Taguchi method is suitable for the initial implementation, while the RSM is superior for the extended optimization of wastewater treatment processes.
