Treatment of effluent (skim latex serum) from a rubber processing plant with Fenton’s reagent

The treatment effectiveness of Fenton's reagent using Fe²⁺catalyst to reduce chemical oxygen demand (COD) of skim latex serum and the effect of varying concentrations of H₂O₂, Fe²⁺and initial solution pH on its treatment efficiency were investigated. The highest COD removal efficiency obtained was approximately 80% at optimum conditions. The treatment required either nominal or no acidification as initial pH of serum is very close to the optimum pH = 4. COD removal increased upon increasing H₂O₂ and Fe²⁺concentrations. This study shows the suitability of using Fenton's process with H₂O₂and FeCh as a pre-Treatment for skim latex serum. The findings reported here represent a potentially simpler and more cost-effective alternative treatment to other treatment methods since only reagents and not capital-intensive materials (such as membrane) are required.