In the present study, the coagulation of the fresh and thermally treated desizing wastewater has been reported. The maximum COD reduction of fresh desizing wastewater using coagulation was observed with commercial alum at initial pH 4. This was followed by aluminum potassium sulfate (pH 4), FeCl3 (pH 6), PAC (pH 6) and FeSO4 (pH 4). The maximum COD reduction observed at a coagulant (commercial alum) dose of 5 kg/m(3) and pH 4 was 58% whereas the color reduction at these conditions was 85%. The results reveal that the application of coagulation on the catalytic thermal treated effluent is more effective in removing nearly 88% of COD and 96% of color at above mentioned conditions except at a coagulant dose of 1 kg/m(3). The amount of inorganic sludge generated gets drastically reduced (almost 25%) due to the reduced amount of coagulant. The COD and color of the final effluent were found to be 98.6 mg/l and 2.67 PCU, respectively, and the COD/BOD3 ratio was 1.36. The settling rate of the slurry was found to be strongly influenced by treatment pH. The slurry obtained after treatment at pH 12 settled faster in comparison to slurry obtained at pH 4. The filterability of the treated effluent is also strongly dependent on pH. pH 12 was adjudged to be the best in giving highest filtration rate. (c) 2008 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.