Estudio de la factibilidad del proceso de electrocoagulación para la obtención de sólidos a partir de la vinaza Feasibility study of the electrocoagulation process to obtain solids from vinasse

Abstract

The electrocoagulation experiments were conducted process for the removal of the solid components of the spent wash which are used as corrosion inhibitors. The spent wash is obtained as a residue from the alcohol distillery process from sugar cane molasses coming from Urbano Noris Agro-industrial Complex in Holguin. The main objective of this research was to assess the feasibility of the electrocoagulation process vinasse. The effects of: current intensity, pH, electrolysis time, and their interactions, were studied by using a factorial 33 experimental design. As response variables were analyzed: amount of solids obtained and energy consumption of the electrocoagulation process; confirming that the three influence variables studied have a tremendous on the response variables, the current intensity is of major relevance to the solids obtained and the electrolysis time in relation to energy use. For determining the optimum operating conditions was considered the procedure of multiple response optimizations. The best advisability and the optimum were reached for pH 8.7, current intensity of 11 A, and electrolysis time of 5 min, with those who received the highest amount of solids with the lowest energy consumption. For these conditions, the economic calculus was carried out, taking into account: energy consumption, cost of the electrode and chemical, obtaining an operational cost of $ 488, 74 ·10-3/kg.