Treatment of paint manufacturing wastewater by electrocoagulation

Treatability of paint manufacturing wastewater (PMW) by electrocoagulation (EC) process was investigated. Effects of operating parameters for the EC process such as electrode type (Al or Fe), initial pH (2–10), current density (5–80 A/m²) and operating time (0–50 min) were evaluated for optimum operating conditions. The highest removal efficiencies for COD and TOC in PMW were obtained with 93% and 88% for Fe and 94% and 89% for Al electrodes at the optimum conditions (35 A/m², 15 min and pH 6.95). Operating costs for removal of PMW at the optimum conditions were calculated for Fe and Al electrodes as 0.187 €/m³ and 0.129 €/m³. Toxicity test was carried out to obtain information about toxic effect of the raw and treated wastewaters at optimum operating conditions. The samples measured by respirometric method contained hardly toxicities. Performance of Al electrode was better than that of Fe electrode in terms of removal efficiency and operating cost.     

Treatment and operation cost analysis of greywater by electrocoagulation and comparison with coagulation process in mining areas

Electrocoagulation process is a new and developing method that has been employed significantly to remove pollutants from wastewater. In this research the electrocoagulation process has been examined for the removal of chemical oxygen demand (COD), turbidity, hardness, and organic matter from greywater. An economical comparison has been implemented between electrocoagulation and coagulation processes near the mining areas. The results demonstrate that the electrode type and operation time have a significant impact on the removal of COD, turbidity, and hardness. The least operating cost to remove organic matters is ~US$ 0.04 m^?3 for the iron electrode. Since the least operating cost was US$ 0.09 m^?3 in coagulation process, economically, the electrocoagulation process in comparison with the coagulation process is a more effective process.     

Decolorisation of aqueous reactive dye Remazol Red 3B by electrocoagulation

The present study demonstrated the applicability of the electrocoagulation method for the removal of reactive dye, Remazol Red 3B, in a batch study. Iron electrode material was used as a sacrificial electrode in monopolar parallel mode in this study. The effects of the initial pH, current density, conductivity, initial concentration of dye and electrolysis time on the removal of Remazol Red 3B were investigated to determine optimum operating conditions. High decolorisation efficiency (>99%) for Remazol Red 3B dye solution was obtained with optimal value of process parameters, such as 15 mA cm^?2 of current density, 10 min of electrolysis time, pH 6 and 500 mg l^?1 dye concentration. The energy consumption, electrode consumption and operating costs under optimum operating conditions were calculated as 3.3 kW h kg dye^?1, 1.2 kg Fe kg dye^?1 and 0.6 € m^?3, respectively.     

Treatment of potato chips manufacturing wastewater by electrocoagulation

Treatment of wastewater from potato chips manufacturing by electrocoagulation (EC) was investigated. Experiments were conducted to determine the optimum operating conditions such as electrode type, pH, current density and retention time. Aluminium and iron electrodes were used, and aluminium electrodes were found to be more suitable since it had a higher removal rate of COD, turbidity and suspended solids than the iron electrode. The removal efficiencies of COD and turbidity were high, being 60% and 98%, respectively, with retention time < 40 min. 0.05–1.75 kg (per kg COD removed) of dried sludge was removed. COD removal kinetics during EC process was described by a macro-kinetics model. Results from the kinetic studies showed that the kinetic data fit the second-order kinetic model well. The operating costs investigated in the present study were the energy cost of EC and the material cost due to the consumption of aluminium electrode. Operating costs were varied in the range of 0.48 to 5.42 $/m³ and 0.62 to 6.32 $/m³ wastewater treated at 20–300 A/m² and 5–40 min, respectively. The energy consumption was 4 kWh/m³ for wastewater treated less than 8 min under typical operating conditions.     

Enhancement of the advanced Fenton process by ultrasound for decolorisation of real textile wastewater

Successful decolorisation of real textile wastewater was achieved by means of the advanced Fenton process in conjunction with ultrasound technology. A synergy factor of 6.9 for this combined method was determined. The decolorisation followed zero‐order kinetics, and the rate increased with increasing zero‐valent iron dose and decreasing pH and hydrogen peroxide concentration. The optimum conditions for an American Dye Manufacturers Institute decolorisation value of 1638 ADMI was found to be a pH of 3.0, an ultrasound frequency of 47 kHz, a zero‐valent iron dose of 1.0 g l^?1, and a hydrogen peroxide concentration of 1.03 × 10^?2 m . Under these conditions, the estimated operating cost to decolorise 96% true colour was estimated to be $US 4.51 m^?3. The study demonstrated that the given combined method could be applied to decolorise textile wastewaters.     

Pre-Treatment of Pistachio Processing Industry Wastewaters (PPIW) by Electrocoagulation using Al Plate Electrode

The objective of the present study is to assess the efficiency of electro-coagulation treatment of pistachio processing industry wastewaters (PPIW) using an aluminum plate electrode. The effect of some of the parameters was examined on the removal of chemical oxygen demand (COD), total organic carbon (TOC), and total phenols (TP) removal efficiency. The treatment was carried out in a batch system. The influences of current density (from 1 to 6 mA cm^?2), initial pH of wastewater (from 2 to 8), constant pH of wastewater (from 3 to 7), stirring speed (from 100 to 500 rpm), and supporting electrolyte concentration (from 10 to 50 mg L^?1 NaCl) on removal efficiency were investigated to determine the best experimental conditions. The evaluation of the physico-chemical parameters during the treatment by electrocoagulation showed that the best removal efficiency was obtained under the conditions of 180 min electrolysis time, wastewater with constant pH of 6, and 6 – mA cm^?2 current density. Under such experimental conditions, COD, TOC, and TP removal efficiency were found to be 60.1%, 50.2%, and 77.3%, respectively, while energy consumption was 39.6 kW-h m^?3. The results of the study show that the electrocoagulation can be applied to PPIW pre-treatment.     

Arsenic removal from drinking water by electrocoagulation using iron electrodes

Arsenic removal from drinking water was investigated using electrocoagulation (EC) followed by filtration. A sand filter was used to remove flocs generated in the EC process. Experiments were performed in a batch electrochemical reactor using iron electrodes with monopolar parallel electrode connection mode to assess their efficiency. The effects of several operating parameters on arsenic removal such as current density (1.5–9.0 mA cm^?2), initial arsenic concentration (50–500 μg L^?1), operating time (0–15 min), electrode surface area (266–665 cm²), and sodium chloride concentrations (0.01 and 0.02M) were examined. The EC process was able to decrease the residual arsenic concentration to less than 10 μg L^?1. Optimum operating conditions were determined as an operating time of 5 min and current density of 4.5 mA cm^?2 at pH of 7. The optimum electrode surface area for arsenic removal was found to be 266 cm² taking into consideration cost effectiveness. The residual iron concentration increased with increasing residence time, and maximum residual iron value was measured as 287 μg L^?1 for electrode surface area of 266 cm². The addition of sodium chloride had no significant effect on residual arsenic concentration, but an increase in current density was observed.     

Comparison of Electrocoagulation and Chemical Coagulation for Heavy Metal Removal

Copper (Cu), chromium (Cr), and nickel (Ni) removal from metal plating wastewater by electrocoagulation and chemical coagulation was investigated. Chemical coagulation was performed using either aluminum sulfate or ferric chloride, whereas electrocoagulation was done in an electrolytic cell using aluminum or iron electrodes. By chemical coagulation, Cu‐, Cr‐, and Ni‐removal of 99.9 % was achieved with aluminum sulfate and ferric chloride dosages of 500, 1000, and 2000 mg L^–1, respectively. Removal of metals by electrocoagulation was affected by the electrode material, wastewater pH, current density, number of electrodes, and electrocoagulation time. Electrocoagulation with iron electrodes at a current density of 10 mA cm^–2, electrocoagulation time of 20 min, and pH 3.0 resulted in 99.9 % Cu‐, 99.9 % Cr‐, and 98 % Ni‐removal.     

Experimental study on electrocoagulation of textile wastewater by continuous horizontal flow through aluminum baffles

We investigated the feasibility of applying a continuous textile wastewater (TWW) treatment, which was accomplished by using electrocoagulation (EC) unit with zigzag horizontal flow across a series of mono-polar aluminum plate baffles. The effects of operating parameters such as current density (20-80 A/m²) and detention time (5-40 min) on turbidity, color, chemical oxygen demand (COD), total suspended solids (TSS) and total dissolved solids (TDS) removal were studied. The optimum conditions were determined as 60 A/m² and 20min by monitoring zeta potential (ζ) of effluent. At the optimum conditions, removal efficiencies for turbidity (97.63%), color (87.87%), COD (93.3%), TSS (94.02%), and TDS (52.13%) were observed. Further, addition of 4mg/L of NaCl dose in the TWW modified conductivity suitably, thereby reducing electrical energy consumption per cubic meter of waste water and specific electrical energy consumption (SEEC) from 13.33 to 2.67kWh/m³, and 23.84 to 4.77kWh/kg Al, respectively. Comparing the EC with conventional coagulation process, EC showed better pollutant removal efficiency.     

Disinfection of Biologically Treated Municipal Wastewater using Electrochemical Process

The present study demonstrates the application of Al-Al electrode combination for electrochemical disinfection of biologically treated municipal wastewater (BTMW) of Sewage Treatment Plant. A glass chamber of 2 liter volume was used for the Electrochemical (EC) process using two electrode plates of aluminum (Al-Al) with DC power supply at different operating conditions of current density (CD), operating time (OT), inter electrode distance (IED), electrode area (EA), initial pH, and settling time (ST). The maximum removal of total coliforms (TC) (99.99%) and total bacteria (TB) (99.87%) from BTMW was achieved with the optimum operating conditions of CD (2.65 A/m²), OT (40 mins.), IED (0.5 cm), EA (160 cm²), initial pH (7.5), and ST (60 min.). The efficiency of the EC process for disinfection of BTMW was strongly affected by the CD, OT, IED, EA, pH, and ST. These effects can be explained by the formation of the reactive species such as OH^?, and ClO₂^?·during the electrochemical process. Under optimal operating conditions, the operating cost was found to be 1.01 $/m³ in terms of the electrode consumption (23.71 x 10^?5 kg Al/m³) and energy consumption (101.76 kwh/m³).     

Investigation of shipyard wastewater treatment using electrocoagulation process with Al electrodes

In this study, shipyard oily wastewater treatment was investigated by electrocoagulation (EC) using aluminum electrodes in a batch reactor by evaluating different operation conditions. The maximum chemical oxygen demand (COD) removal efficiency of 88.83% was obtained at current density of 3 mA/cm². The removal efficiency was gradually improved with increasing current density and decreased with increasing COD concentration. However, initial pH value was not determinant factor for this process. Total energy and electrode cost were calculated as $0.88 per m³ treated wastewater. The result of this research shows that EC process seems to be an efficient method for the oily wastewater treatment.     

Using electrocoagulation-electroflotation technology to treat synthetic solution and textile wastewater, two case studies

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of the operating parameters, such as pH, initial concentration (C_i), duration of treatment (t), current density (j), interelectrode distance (d) and conductivity (κ) on the treatment of a synthetic wastewater in the batch electrocoagulation (EC)-electroflotation (EF) process. The optimal operating conditions were determined and applied to a textile wastewater. Initially a batch-type EC-EF reactor was operated at various current densities ranging from 11.55 to 91.5 mA/cm² and various electrode gaps (1, 2 and 3 cm). For solutions with 300 mg/L of silica gel, good turbidity removal (89.6%) was obtained without any coagulant when the current density was 11.55 mA/cm², and with initial pH at 7.6, conductivity at 2.1 mS/cm: the treatment time was hold for 10 min and the electrode gap was 1 cm. Application of the optimal operating parameters on a textile wastewater showed a high removal efficiency for the following variables: suspended solid (SS) 85.5%, turbidity 76.2%, biological oxygen demand (BOD₅) 88.9%, chemical oxygen demand (COD) 79.7%, and color over 93%.     

PHOTOCATALYSIS BY IRON-RICH MONTMORILLONITE FOR THE TREATMENT OF DYEING WASTEWATER

This study investigates the photocatalytic degradation of dyeing wastewater by iron-rich montmorillonite (MMt) under a 25 W low-pressure mercury lamp (λ = 254 nm, I = 48.4 μW/cm²). Exposing MMt to UV irradiation worked to catalyze the photobleaching of wastewater used in the dyeing process. COD removal efficiencies of 65.0% and 74.0% were achieved in 1 g/L MMt suspensions at a pH of 3 in the absence and presence of 30 min of UV irradiation, respectively. A decolorization efficiency of 71.4% was reached with 1 g/L MMt suspensions at a pH of 3 after 30 min of UV irradiation, while only 4.9% decolorization was attained in darkness. These results indicate that iron-rich MMt is a good photocatalyst for decolorization and COD removal in wastewater from dyeing processes. A low pH value is beneficial to the decolorization of dyeing wastewater. A preliminary photocatalytic mechanism is proposed: the iron in the MMt is responsible for the decolorization of the wastewater because it produces a highly oxidative species of hydroxyl radicals (^?OH).     

Removal of manganese from water by electrocoagulation: Adsorption,kinetics and thermodynamic studies

The present study provides an electrocoagulation process for the removal of manganese (Mn) from water using magnesium as anode and galvanised iron as cathode. The various operating parameters like effect of initial pH, current density, electrode configuration, inter‐electrode distance, coexisting ions and temperature on the removal efficiency of Mn were studied. The results showed that the maximum removal efficiency of 97.2% at a pH of 7.0 was achieved at a current density 0.05 A/dm² with an energy consumption of 1.151 kWhr/m³. Thermodynamic parameters, including the Gibbs free energy, enthalpy and entropy, indicated that the Mn adsorption of water on magnesium hydroxides was feasible, spontaneous and endothermic. The experimental data were fitted with several adsorption isotherm models to describe the electrocoagulation process. The adsorption of Mn preferably fitting the Langmuir adsorption isotherm suggests monolayer coverage of adsorbed molecules. In addition, the adsorption kinetic studies showed that the electrocoagulation process was best described using the second‐order kinetic model at the various current densities. © 2012 Canadian Society for Chemical Engineering     

Characterization of the removal of Chromium(VI) from groundwater by electrocoagulation

A batch electrocoagulation system has been evaluated for the removal of Cr(VI) from brackish groundwater under different operating conditions. The influence of electrode type, applied current density, initial pH, initial chromium concentration, conductivity and temperature were evaluated. The experimental results indicated that chromium removal increased with increasing the applied current density and conductivity. The efficiency of different electrode arrangements (iron, aluminum) was also assessed, and indicated that Fe–Fe electrode pair was the most efficient arrangement and was able to achieve 100% Cr removal at an electrocoagulation time of 5 min, a current density of 7.94 mA/cm², and pH of 8 at room temperature 25 °C. The generated sludge for the iron electrodes was characterized using EDS, X-ray fluorescence (XRF) and FE-SEM. The analysis confirmed the formation and precipitation of Fe(OH)₃ and Cr(OH)₃ as solids. Overall, the study affirmed that electrocoagulation is a reliable technique for the purification of groundwater with an estimated energy consumption of 0.6 kWh/m³.     

Filtration process cost in submerged anaerobic membrane bioreactors (AnMBRs) for urban wastewater treatment

The objective of this study was to evaluate the effect of the main factors affecting the cost of the filtration process in submerged anaerobic membrane bioreactors (AnMBRs) for urban wastewater (UWW) treatment. Experimental data for CAPEX/OPEX calculations was obtained in an AnMBR system featuring industrial-scale hollow-fiber (HF) membranes. Results showed that operating at J₂₀ slightly higher than the critical flux results in minimum CAPEX/OPEX. The minimum filtration process cost ranged from €0.03 to €0.12 per m³, mainly depending on SGD_m (from 0.05 to 0.3 m³·m^?2·h^?1) and MLSS (from 5 to 25 g·L^?1). The optimal SGD_m resulted in approx. 0.1 m³·m^?2·h^?1.     

Electrochemical method for quantitative determination of trace amounts of disperse dye in wastewater

The electrochemical behaviour of Disperse Red 13 dye at a glassy carbon electrode was investigated in both organic and aqueous organic mixtures. Best results were obtained in N,N‐dimethylformamide/Britton–Robinson buffer (1:1, v/v), which displays a well‐defined peak at ‐0.40 V (vs Ag/AgCl) owing to reduction of the protonated nitro group. This method can be successfully applied to the electroanalytical determination of Disperse Red 13 in a very simple and inexpensive way. All the differential pulse voltammetry parameters were optimised by using a glassy carbon electrode modified with poly(glutamic acid) films. The targeted analytical method presented a linear response from Disperse Red 13 concentrations between 2.5 × 10^?7 and 3 × 10^?6 mol l^?1 (r = 0.997), with a detection limit of 1.5 × 10^?8 mol l^?1 and recoveries of 89.7–95.10% in water samples. Disperse Red 13 was successfully determined in textile industry wastewater by means of the proposed method after pre‐extraction in a solid‐phase extraction cartridge.     

Treatment of wastewaters from the olive mill industry by sonication

BACKGROUND: In this study, the effects of additives (manganese (III) oxide (Mn₃O₄), Cu⁺², Fe⁰ and potassium iodate (KIO₃)) and radical scavengers (sodium carbonate (Na₂CO₃), perfluorohexane (C₆F₁₄) and t‐buthyl alcohol (C₄H₁₀O)) on the dephenolization, decolorization, dearomatization and detoxification of olive mill wastewater (OMW) by sonication were investigated because wastewaters from this industry are not removed effectively. RESULTS: The maximum COD, color, total phenol and total aromatic amines (TAAs) removal efficiencies were 63, 82, 78 and 71%, respectively, at 60 °C with sonication only. The TAAs and phenol yields were increased to 96 and 97% with 6 mg L^?1 KIO₃ and 3 mg L^?1 Fe⁰ while color removal reached 97% with 6 mg L^?1 C₆F_14. The total annual cost with sonication only was 665 € m^?3 year^?1 while the cost slightly increased (666€ m³ year^?1) with C₆F₁₄. The maximum acute toxicity removals were 97‐98% in Daphnia magna and Vibrio fischeri The Microtox acute toxicity test was more sensitive than the Daphnia magna to the OMW samples. CONCLUSION: COD, color, total phenol, TAAs and toxicity in an OMW were removed efficiently and cost‐effectively by sonication. © 2012 Society of Chemical Industry     

Reductive decolourization and total organic carbon reduction of the diazo dye CI Acid Black 24 by zero‐valent iron powder

In this study, wastewater contaminated by colour and total organic carbon from the diazo dye CI Acid Black 24 was successfully removed by reductive decolourization with zero‐valent iron powder. The effects on decolourization of experimental variables such as iron dosage, initial dye concentration, pH and dissolved oxygen level were evaluated. The best removal efficiencies for decolourization of 99.7% and total organic carbon of 57.4% were obtained with an initial dye concentration of 25.0 mg L^?1 and iron dosage of 200.0 g L^?1. Moreover, the decolourization rates followed pseudo‐first‐order kinetic equations with respect to dye concentration. The colour removal efficiency was simultaneously dependent on iron dosage and various initial dye concentrations, although the colour and total organic carbon removal efficiencies linearly increased with increased iron dosage, reaching a maximum at 100.0 g L^?1. A contour plot was developed to illustrate the 3D relation of removal efficiencies with initial dye concentration and iron dosage. For wastewater with a concentration range from 25 to 100 mg L^?1 CI Acid Black 24 the suggested ideal operation conditions are 100.0 g L^?1 iron dosage, pH 2‐4, normal oxygen concentration of 5‐7 mg L^?1 and reaction time of 30‐60 min. Copyright © 2006 Society of Chemical Industry     

Treatment of Baker's Yeast Wastewater by Electrocoagulation and Evaluation of Molecular Weight Distribution with HPSEC

In the present paper, the molecular weight distributions (MWDs) of Baker's yeast wastewater (BYW) during electrocoagulation (EC) are investigated by High Performance Size Exclusion Chromatography (HPSEC) with ultraviolet diode array (DAD) and refractive index detectors (RID). The results of this study show that using DAD and RID in HPSEC are quite useful in order to reveal changes in MWDs of all components (whether UV-Vis absorption or not) by RID, and colored (strongly absorb UV-Vis radiation) by DAD. Molecular Weights (MW) of components are varied in a wide range of 92.0 Da – 2.1 × 10⁶ Da. The high molecular weight components (HMWCs) and low molecular weight components (LMWCs) are present in low concentrations but they contribute high amount to color intensity (total contribution of two fractions are about 80%) whereas the intermediate molecular weight components (IMWCs) have high concentration with low amount to color intensity. The optimum operating conditions for the removal of color and COD are found as 86% and 43% at 80 A/m², pH_i 4 and 20 min in EC process with Al electrode. The EC process remove the HMWCs more efficiently; thus color removal efficiencies are high with respect to COD and TOC removal efficiencies during EC.