Response surface methodology applied to tropical freshwater treatment.

This paper presents the profits and disadvantages of the chemometrics approach instead of the one-factor-at-a-time (OFAT) coagulation diagram approach for tropical water physicochemical treatment. Central composite design associate to response surface methodology (CCD-RSM) is used to find the real best conditions for coagulant dosage and pH aiming at high-turbidity removal. The number of experiments needed to chemometrics model construction (12) is comparatively smaller than that used in the coagulation diagram (84), saving financial and environmental resources.