Plasma generation using dielectric barrier discharge reactor for phenol degradation in batik wastewater

Batik wastewater contains phenolic compounds. Phenolic compounds are hematotoxic, hepatotoxic, and capable of causing mutagenesis and carcinogenesis in humans and other living organisms. Therefore, phenol compounds need to be degraded. This study uses plasma electrolysis method with Dielectric Barrier Discharge (DBD) reactor to degrade phenolic compounds in Batik wastewater. The purpose of this study was to characterize the Dielectric Barrier Discharge (DBD) reactor, to determine the effect of voltage and type of catalyst on phenol concentration, and to determine the interaction between voltage and catalyst type on the response of phenol concentration through analysis of variance (ANOVA). The result obtained from the characterization of the reactor is ignition voltage at 1400 Volt. The best degradation results of phenolic compounds were obtained in the treatment of Batik wastewater with FeSO4 catalyst at 2600 Volt. The phenol reduction in the best conditions reached 88.73%. Based on analysis of variance (ANOVA), voltage and quadratic catalyst variables affect the response of phenol concentrations in batik waste.