Treatment of textile wastewaters by electrocoagulation using iron and aluminum electrodes

Treatment of textile wastewaters by electrocoagulation using iron and of aluminum electrode materials has been investigated in this paper. The effects of relevant wastewater characteristics such as conductivity and pH, and important process variables such as current density and operating time on the chemical oxygen demand (COD) and turbidity removal efficiencies have been explored. Furthermore, the electrode and energy consumptions for each electrode have been calculated. The results show that iron is superior to aluminum as sacrificial electrode material, from COD removal efficiency and energy consumption points.     

Contribution to the study of electrocoagulation mechanism in basic textile effluent

Electrocoagulation method with iron electrode is used to treat the industrial textile wastewater in batch reactor. The effects of operating parameters such as time and potential electrolysis on the decolourization and COD removal efficiency have been investigated. The results indicate that electrocoagulation is very efficient and able to achieve 100% colour and 84% COD removal in 3 min at potential 600 mV. The effluent wastewater is very clear and its quality exceed the direct discharge standard. Furthermore, the mechanism of electrocoagulation is elucidated by zeta potential measurement.     

Treatment of poultry slaughterhouse wastewaters by electrocoagulation

Treatment of poultry slaughterhouse wastewater (PSW) by electrocoagulation (EC) has been investigated batchwise in this paper. Effects of the process variables such as medium pH, electrode material, current density, and operating time are investigated on chemical oxygen demand (COD) and oil-grease removal efficiencies, electrical energy consumption, and sacrificial electrode consumption. The highest COD removal efficiency is reached with aluminum as 93%, and maximum oil-grease removal is obtained with iron electrodes as 98%. Combined use of both electrode materials in the EC unit may yield high process performances with respect to both COD and oil-grease removals. Further work needs to be carried out at pilot scale to assess the technical end economic feasibility of the process.     

Photocatalytic and electrochemical combined treatment of textile wash water

Various chemical and physical processes for treatment of textile effluent are not destructive but they only transfer the contaminants from one form to another. The presence of high concentration of organic dye and total dissolved solids (TDS) in the effluent that are not removed by biological treatment must be eliminated by an alternative method to the conventional ones is the advanced oxidation process (AOP). A procion blue dye effluent was treated by photo and electrochemical oxidation process as well as by combining photocatalytic degradation using TiO2 suspensions. Chemical oxygen demand (COD) and colour removal can be used to follow the degradation of the organic pollutant. The effects of pH, current density, flow rate of effluent that passes into the reactor and supporting electrolyte were studied. Comparative studies were carried out on photocatalytic and electrochemical process to degrade the procion blue. The maximum COD reduction and colour removal were 96 and 100%, respectively. Photodegradation efficiency of dye was high when photolysis was carried out in the presence of 40 mg/l of TiO2.     

Treatment of levafix orange textile dye solution by electrocoagulation

The decolorization of the levafix orange textile dye in aqueous solution by electrocoagulation using aluminum sacrificial anode has been investigated. The process performance is analyzed in terms of decolorization efficiency and the important cost-related parameters such as electrode and energy consumptions, as a function of initial pH, conductivity, current density, initial dye concentration and electrolysis time. The present study proves the effectiveness of electrochemical treatment for the textile dye solution. 95% decolorization efficiency may be obtained at suitable operating conditions such as; current density 100 A/m(2), operating time 12 min and initial pH 6.4. The corresponding electrode and energy consumptions during the electrolysis were found to be 1.8 kg Al/kg dye and 35 k Wh/kg dye.     

Hybrid processes for the treatment of cattle-slaughterhouse wastewater using aluminum and iron electrodes

Electrocoagulation (EC) of cattle-slaughterhouse wastewater, which is characterized by (i) high turbidity (up to 340 Nephelometric turbidity units), (ii) increased chemical oxygen demand (COD) concentration (4200 mg L(-1)), and (iii) a dark color, was investigated with the purpose of lowering the turbidity and COD concentration to levels below the permitted direct-discharge limits. Iron and aluminum were used as electrode materials. Experiments were conducted to evaluate the effects of current density, initial pH, and supporting electrolyte (Na(2)SO(4)) dosage on the performance of the system. COD removal increased with increase in current density. The original pH of wastewater (7.8) was found to be preferable for both the electrode materials. Higher concentrations of Na(2)SO(4) caused an increase in COD removal efficiency, and energy consumption was considerably reduced with increasing conductivity. Hybrid processes were applied in this work to achieve higher COD removal efficiencies. In the case of aluminum electrode, polyaluminum chloride (PAC) was used as the coagulant aid for the aforesaid purpose. COD removal of 94.4% was obtained by adding 0.75 g L(-1) PAC. This removal efficiency corresponded to effluent COD concentration of 237 mg L(-1), which meets the legal requirement for discharge from slaughterhouses in Turkey. In the case of iron electrode, EC was conducted concurrent with the Fenton process. As a result, 81.1% COD removal was achieved by adding 9% H(2)O(2). Consequently, hybrid processes are inferred to be superior to EC alone for the removal of both COD and turbidity from cattle-slaughterhouse wastewater.     

Improvement of paint effluents coagulation using natural and synthetic coagulant aids

The coagulant iron chloride and the flocculants Polysep 3000 (PO), Superfloc A-1820 (SU) and Praestol 2515 TR (PR) have been used in this study to show the efficiency of coagulation flocculation process in the chemical precipitation method for the removal of organic and colouring matters from the paint industry wastewater. This study also includes the amount of produced sludge. The results indicate that FeCl(3) is efficient at pH range 8-9 and at optimal dose of 650 mgl(-1). Iron chloride allows the removal of 82% of chemical oxygen demand (COD) and 94% of colour. However, sequential addition of coagulant and polymeric additives enhance clearly pollutant removal and produces less decanted sludge compared to the results obtained when the coagulant is used alone. The removal efficiency of COD reaches 91% and that of colour 99%. Coagulation-biflocculation process is more effective than the coagulation-monoflocculation one. The sequential addition of iron chloride, Polysep 3000 (cationic flocculant) and Praestol 2515 TR (anionic flocculant) seems to be the most suitable combination for the treatment of the paint industry wastewaters.     

Decolourization of dye-containing effluent using mineral coagulants produced by electrocoagulation

The colour and colour causing-compounds has always been undesirable in water for any use, be it industrial or domestic wastewaters. The discharge of such effluents causes excessive oxygen demand in the receiving water and then a treatment is required before discharge into ecosystems. This study examined the possibility to remove colour causing-compounds from effluent by chemical coagulation, in comparison with direct electrocoagulation. The inorganic coagulants (C₁, C₂ and C₃) in the form of dry powder tested, were respectively produced from electrolysis of S₁ = [NaOH (7.5 × 10⁻³ M)], S₂ = [NaCl (10⁻² M)], and S₃ = [NaOH (7.5 × 10⁻³ M) + NaCl (10⁻² M)] solutions, using sacrificial aluminium electrodes operated at an electrical potential of 12 V. Reactive textile dye (CI Reactive Red 141) was used as model of colour-causing compound prepared at a concentration of 50 mg l⁻¹. The best performances of dye removal were obtained with C₂ having a chemical structure comprised of a mixture of polymeric specie (Al₄₅O₄₅(OH)₄₅Cl) and monomeric species (AlCl(OH)₂·2H₂O and Al(OH)₃). The removal efficiency (R_A) evaluated by measuring the yields of 540 nm-absorbance removal varied from 41 to 96% through 60 min of treatment by imposing a concentration of C₂ ranging from 100 to 400 mg l⁻¹. The effectiveness of the treatment increased and the effluent became more and more transparent while increasing C₂ concentration. The comparison of chemical treatment using C₂ coagulant and direct electrocoagulation of CI Reactive Red 141 containing synthetic solution demonstrated the advantage of chemical treatment during the first few minutes of treatment. A yield of 88% of absorbance removal was recorded using C₂ coagulant (400 mg l⁻¹) over the first 10 min of treatment, compared to 60% measured using direct electrocoagulation while imposing either 10 or 15 V of electrical potential close to the value (12 V) required during C₂ production. However, at the end of the treatment (after 60 min of treatment), CI Reactive Red 141 pollutant was completely removed from solution (540 nm-absorbance removal of 100%) using direct electrochemical treatment, compared to 96.4% of absorbance removed while treating dye-containing synthetic solution by means of C₂ coagulant.     

A quantitative comparison between electrocoagulation and chemical coagulation for boron removal from boron-containing solution

This paper provides a quantitative comparison of electrocoagulation and chemical coagulation approaches based on boron removal. Electrocoagulation process delivers the coagulant in situ as the sacrificial anode corrodes, due to a fixed current density, while the simultaneous evolution of hydrogen at the cathode allows for pollutant removal by flotation. By comparison, conventional chemical coagulation typically adds a salt of the coagulant, with settling providing the primary pollutant removal path. Chemical coagulation was carried out via jar tests using aluminum chloride. Comparison was done with the same amount of coagulant between electrocoagulation and chemical coagulation processes. Boron removal obtained was higher with electrocoagulation process. In addition, it was seen that chemical coagulation has any effect for boron removal from boron-containing solution. At optimum conditions (e.g. pH 8.0 and aluminum dose of 7.45 g/L), boron removal efficiencies for electrocoagulation and chemical coagulation were 94.0% and 24.0%, respectively.     

Electrochemical treatment of Procion Black 5B using cylindrical flow reactor--a pilot plant study

The paper presents the results of an efficient electrochemical treatment of Procion Black 5B--a pilot plant study. Experiments were conducted at different current densities and selected electrolyte medium using Ti/RuO2 as anode, stainless-steel as cathode in a cylindrical flow reactor. By cyclic voltammetric analysis, the best condition for maximum redox reaction rate was found to be in NaCl medium. During the various stages of electrolysis, parameters such as COD, colour, FTIR, UV-vis spectra studies, energy consumption and mass transfer coefficient were computed and presented. The experimental results showed that the electrochemical oxidation process could effectively remove colour and the chemical oxygen demand (COD) from the synthetic dye effluent. The maximum COD reduction and colour removal efficiencies were 74.05% and 100%, respectively. Probable theory, reaction mechanism and modeling were proposed for the oxidation of dye effluent. The results obtained reveal the feasibilities of application of electrochemical treatment for the degradation of Procion Black 5B.     

Advanced treatment of coking wastewater by coagulation and zero-valent iron processes

Advanced treatment of coking wastewater was investigated experimentally with coagulation and zero-valent iron (ZVI) processes. Particular attention was paid to the effect of dosage and pH on the removal of chemical oxygen demand (COD) in the two processes. The results showed that ZVI was more effective than coagulation for advanced treatment of coking wastewater. The jar tests revealed that maximal COD removal efficiency of 27.5-31.8% could be achieved under the optimal condition of coagulation, i.e. 400mg/L of Fe(2)(SO(4))3 as coagulant at pH 3.0-5.0. On the other hand, the COD removal efficiency could be up to 43.6% under the idealized condition of ZVI upon 10 g/L active carbon and 30 g/L iron being dosed at pH 4.0. The mechanisms for COD removal in ZVI were dominated by coagulation, precipitation and oxidation-reduction. ZVI would also enhance the biodegradability of effluent by increasing BOD5/COD from 0.07 to 0.53. Moreover, some ester compounds could be produced in the reaction. Although ZVI was found more efficient than coagulation in eliminating low molecular weight (<2000 Da) compounds in the wastewater, there were still a few residual contaminants which could hardly be eliminated by either of the process.     

Techno-economical evaluation of electrocoagulation for the textile wastewater using different electrode connections

The bench scale of an electrocoagulation (EC) unit requires a detailed study discerning the effects of continuous variables such as pH, current density and operating time, and type variables such as electrode material and connection mode. This paper presents the results of the treatment of a textile wastewater by EC process. Two electrode materials, aluminum and iron, were connected in three modes namely, monopolar-parallel (MP-P), monopolar-serial (MP-S), and bipolar-serial (BP-S). COD and turbidity removals were selected as performance criteria. For a high COD removal, acidic medium is preferable for both electrode materials. For a high turbidity removal, acidic medium is preferable for aluminum, and neutral medium for iron. High current density is favorable for both removals in the case of iron. In the aluminum case, the current density exhibits a pronounced effect on COD removal, depending strongly on the connection mode, but it has a negligible effect on the turbidity removal. MP-P with iron or MP-S with aluminum electrode are suitable configurations in regard with the overall process performance. Moreover, process economy is as important as removal efficiencies during the process evaluation task. Various direct and indirect cost items including electrical, sacrificial electrodes, labor, sludge handling, maintenance and depreciation costs have been considered in the calculation of the total cost. The results show that MP-P mode is the most cost-effective for both electrode types. Both electrodes show similar results in reducing COD and turbidity, but iron is preferred as a low cost material. Finally, a comparative study showed that EC was faster and more economic; consumed less material and produced less sludge, and pH of the medium was more stabilized than chemical coagulation (CC) for similar COD and turbidity removal levels. For CC, FeCl(3) was the preferable salt in view of its techno-economic performance. On the other hand, iron was the preferred electrode material in EC with MP-P system in experimental conditions such as, 30 Am(-2) of current density and 15 min of time, the treatment cost was $ 0.245 m(-3). Consequently, the operating cost of CC was 3.2 times as high as the operating cost of EC.     

Decolorization and COD reduction of dyeing wastewater from a cotton textile mill using thermolysis and coagulation

The decolorization and reduction of COD of dyeing wastewater from a cotton textile mill was conducted using catalytic thermal treatment (thermolysis) accompanied with/without coagulation. Thermolysis in presence of a homogeneous copper sulphate catalyst was found to be the most effective in comparison to other catalysts (FeCl(3), FeSO(4), CuO, ZnO and PAC) used. A maximum reduction of chemical oxygen demand (COD) and color of dyeing wastewater of 66.85% and 71.4%, respectively, was observed with a catalyst concentration of 5 kg/m(3) at pH 8. Commercial alum was found most effective coagulant among various coagulants (aluminum potassium sulphate, PAC, FeCl(3) and FeSO(4)) tested during coagulation operations, resulting in 58.57% COD and 74% color reduction at pH 4 and coagulant dose of 5 kg/m(3). Coagulation of the clear fluid (supernatant) obtained after treatment by thermolysis at the conditions previously used resulted in an overall reduction of 89.91% COD and 94.4% color at pH 4 and a coagulant dose of 2 kg/m(3). The application of thermolysis followed by coagulation, thus, is the most effective treatment method in removing nearly 90% COD and 95% color at a lower dose of coagulant (2 kg/m(3)). The sludge thus produced would contain lower inorganic mass coagulant and, therefore, less amount of inorganic sludge.     

Treatment of jean-wash wastewater by combined coagulation, hydrolysis/acidification and Fenton oxidation

Performance of a full-scale combined treatment plant for jean-wash wastewater (JWW) was investigated. The combined process consisted of chemical coagulation, hydrolysis/acidification and Fenton oxidation. Chemical coagulation treatment with polymeric ferric sulfate (PFS)/lime alone proved to be effective in removing the COD (>70%) and part of the color (>50%) from the JWW. Fenton oxidation combined with hydrolysis/acidification as pretreatment offered a noticeable BOD removal efficiency. The average removal efficiencies for COD, BOD, SS, color and aromatic compounds of the combined process were about 95%, 94%, 97%, 95% and 90%, respectively, with the average effluent quality of COD 58 mg/L, BOD 19 mg/L, SS 4 mg/L and color 15(multiple), consistent with the national discharge limits for textile wastewater. The result indicated that the combined procedure could offer an attractive solution for JWW treatment with considerable synergistic advantages.     

Treatability of a simulated disperse dye-bath by ferrous iron coagulation, ozonation, and ferrous iron-catalyzed ozonation

Dyeing and finishing of textile yarns and fabrics are extremely important processes in terms of both quality and environmental concerns. Among the commercial textile dyes, particularly disperse dyestuffs are of environmental interest because of their widespread use, their potential for formation of toxic aromatic amines and their low removal rate during aerobic waste treatment as well as advanced chemical oxidation. Thus, in the present paper ferrous iron coagulation, ozonation and ferrous iron-catalyzed ozonation were employed at varying pH (3-13) and Fe(II)-ion doses (0.09-18mM) for the treatment of a simulated disperse dye-bath (average initial apparent color as absorbance at 566nm=815.4m(-1); COD(0)=3784mgl(-1); TOC(0)=670mgl(-1); BOD(5,0)=58mgl(-1)) that more closely resembled an actual dyehouse effluent than an aqueous disperse dye solution. Coagulation with 5000mgl(-1) FeSO4-7H2O (18mM Fe(2+)) at pH 11 removed up to 97% color and 54% COD, whereas oxidation via ozonation alone (applied ozone dose=2300mgl(-1)) was only effective at pH 3, resulting in 77% color and 11% COD removal. Fe(II)-ion-catalyzed ozonation (3.6mM Fe(2+) at pH 3; Fe(2+):O3 molar ratio 1:14) eliminated 95% color and 48% COD and appeared to be the most attractive option among the investigated chemical treatment methods as for its applicability at the natural acidic pH of the disperse dye-bath effluent and at relatively low Fe(2+)-ion doses as compared to ferrous sulfate coagulation. However, no TOC reduction was observable for ozonation and catalytic ozonation at the investigated reaction conditions (14gl(-1) O3 at pH 3). An average six-fold enhancement in the biodegradability parameter of the synthetic dye wastewater expressed in terms of the BOD(5)/COD ratio could be achieved by the investigated chemical treatment methods.     

Electrochemical removal of phenol from oil refinery wastewater

This study explores the possibility of using electrocoagulation to remove phenol from oil refinery waste effluent using a cell with horizontally oriented aluminum cathode and a horizontal aluminum screen anode. The removal of phenol was investigated in terms of various parameters namely: pH, operating time, current density, initial phenol concentration and addition of NaCl. Removal of phenol during electrocoagulation was due to combined effect of sweep coagulation and adsorption. The results showed that, at high current density and solution pH 7, remarkable removal of 97% of phenol after 2h can be achieved. The rate of electrocoagulation was observed to increase as the phenol concentration decreases; the maximum removal rate was attained at 30 mg L(-1) phenol concentration. For a given current density using an array of closely packed Al screens as anode was found to be more effective than single screen anode, the percentage phenol removal was found to increase with increasing the number of screens per array. After 2h of electrocoagulation, 94.5% of initial phenol concentration was removed from the petroleum refinery wastewater. Energy consumption and aluminum Electrode consumption were calculated per gram of phenol removed. The present study shows that, electrocoagulation of phenol using aluminum electrodes is a promising process.     

Treatment of composite wastewater of a cotton textile mill by thermolysis and coagulation

Catalytic thermal treatment (thermolysis) accompanied with coagulation was used for the removal of COD and color of composite wastewater from a cotton textile mill. CuSO4, FeSO4, FeCl3, CuO, ZnO and PAC were used as catalytic agents during thermolysis. Homogeneous copper sulphate at a mass loading of 6 kg/m3 was found to be the most active. Similarly during coagulation aluminum potassium sulphate [KAl(SO4)(2).16H2O] at a coagulant concentration of 5 kg/m3 was found to be the best among the other coagulants tested, namely, commercial alum, FeSO4, FeCl3 and PAC. During thermolysis, a reduction in COD and color of composite wastewater of about 77.9 and 92.85%, respectively, was observed at pH 12. Coagulation of fresh composite waste using aluminum potassium sulphate resulted in 88.62% COD reduction and 95.4% color reduction at pH 8. Coagulation of the supernatant obtained after treatment by catalytic thermolysis resulted in overall reduction of 97.3% COD and close to 100% color reductions at pH 8 at a lesser coagulant concentration of 3 kg/m3. The results reveal that the application of coagulation after thermolysis is most effective in removing nearly 100% of COD and color at a lower dose of coagulant. The sludge thus produced would contain lower inorganic mass coagulant and can be used as a solid fuel with high calorific value of about 16 MJ/kg, close to that of Indian coal.     

Electrocoagulation of a real reactive dyebath effluent using aluminum and stainless steel electrodes

Treatment of real reactive dyebath effluent comprising of an exhausted reactive dyebath and its sequential rinses with electrocoagulation (EC) using aluminum (Al) and stainless steel (SS) electrodes was investigated. The experimental study focused on the effect of applied current density (22-87 mA/cm(2); at an initial, optimum pH of 5.5) on decolorization and COD removal rates using Al and SS as electrode materials. Results have indicated that the treatment efficiency was enhanced appreciably by increasing the applied current density when Al electrodes were used for EC, whereas no clear correlation existed between current density and removal rates for EC with SS electrodes the treatment efficiency could only be improved when the applied current density was in the range of 33-65 mA/cm(2). It was established that EC with SS electrodes was superior in terms of decolorization kinetics (99-100% color removal after 10-15 min EC at all studied current densities), whereas EC with Al electrodes was more beneficial for COD removal in terms of electrical energy consumption (5 kWh/m(3) wastewater for EC with Al electrodes instead of 9 kWh/m(3) wastewater for EC with SS electrodes).     

Electrocoagulation of simulated reactive dyebath effluent with aluminum and stainless steel electrodes

Reactive dyebath effluents are ideal candidates for electrocoagulation due to their intensive color, medium strength, recalcitrant COD and high electrolyte (NaCl) content. The present study focused on the treatability of simulated reactive dyebath effluent (COD(o)=300 mg/L; color in terms of absorbance values A(o,436)=0.532 cm(-1), A(o,525)=0.693 cm(-1) and A(o,620)=0.808 cm(-1)) employing electrocoagulation with aluminum and stainless steel electrodes. Optimization of critical operating parameters such as initial pH (pH(o) 3-11), applied current density (J(c)=22-87 mA/cm(2)) and electrolyte type (NaCl or Na(2)SO(4)) improved the overall treatment efficiencies resulting in effective decolorization (99% using stainless steel electrodes after 60 min, 95% using aluminum electrodes after 90 min electrocoagulation) and COD abatement (93% with stainless steel electrodes after 60 min, 86% with aluminum electrodes after 90 min of reaction time). Optimum electrocoagulation conditions were established as pH(o) 5 and J(c)=22 mA/cm(2) for both electrode materials. The COD and color removal efficiencies also depended on the electrolyte type. No in situ, surplus adsorbable organically bound halogens (AOX) formation associated with the use of NaCl as the electrolyte during electrocoagulation was detected. An economical evaluation was also carried out within the frame of the study. It was demonstrated that electrocoagulation of reactive dyebath effluent with aluminum and stainless steel electrodes was a considerably less electrical energy-intensive, alternative treatment method as compared with advanced chemical oxidation techniques.     

Treatment of dairy wastewaters by electrocoagulation using mild steel electrodes

The removal of COD and oil-grease from dairy wastewater was experimentally investigated using direct current (DC) electrocoagulation (EC). In the EC of dairy wastewater, the effects of initial pH, electrolysis time, initial concentration of COD, conductivity and current density were examined. The COD and oil-grease in the aqueous phase were effectively removed when iron was used as sacrificial anode. The optimum operating range for each operating variable was experimentally determined. The batch experimental results revealed that COD and oil-grease in aqueous phase was effectively removed. The overall COD and oil-grease removal efficiencies reached 98 and 99%, respectively. The optimum current density, pH and electrolysis time for 18,300 mg COD/L and 4570 mg oil-grease/L were 0.6 mA/cm2, 7 and 1 min, respectively. Mean energy consumption was 0.003 kWh/kg of COD.