Treatment of domestic wastewater by electrocoagulation in a cell with Fe-Fe electrodes


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KURT U., Gonullu M. T., İLHAN F., Varinca K.

ENVIRONMENTAL ENGINEERING SCIENCE, vol.25, no.2, pp.153-161, 2008 (SCI-Expanded) identifier identifier

  • Publication Type: Article / Article
  • Volume: 25 Issue: 2
  • Publication Date: 2008
  • Doi Number: 10.1089/ees.2006.0132
  • Journal Name: ENVIRONMENTAL ENGINEERING SCIENCE
  • Journal Indexes: Science Citation Index Expanded (SCI-EXPANDED), Scopus
  • Page Numbers: pp.153-161
  • Keywords: COD, domestic wastewater, electrocoagulation, electricity consumption, sludge reduction
  • Yıldız Technical University Affiliated: Yes

Abstract

In this study, the potential to treat domestic wastewater ( DWW) using an electrocoagulation ( EC) process was tested on two different samples, one of which was heavily loaded [ 380 mg chemical oxygen demand ( COD)/ L]; the other was weakly loaded [ 260 mg COD/ L]. The samples were supplied from the Istanbul-Yenikapi DWW pretreatment plant. The experimental studies were conducted within an electrolysis cell with Fe-Fe electrodes. In this cell, under optimum operational conditions in the form of electrical power and electrolysis time, pollutant removal efficiency ( as COD), suspended solids ( SS) and characteristics of formed sludge were tested. At the end of these studies, the optimum operational conditions found for electrical power was 0.6 W for both DWW samples, and electrolysis times were determined as 15 min for heavily loaded DWW ( HLDWW) and 8 min for weakly loaded DWW ( WLDWW). Energy consumption in optimum electrical charge conditions was 0.4 kWh/m(3) HLDWW and 0.2 kWh/ m(3) WLDWW. The removal efficiency of COD and SS were obtained and shown to be over 60 and 70%, respectively. The level of sludge production was 1.5-2% during the optimal reaction time, and sludge volume was decreased 50% using H2O2.