Enhanced electrocoagulation: New approaches to improve the electrochemical process

Abstract

Electrocoagulation is a promising technology for the removal of colloids from different types of wastewater and it has also demonstrated good efficiencies for the breaking-up of emulsions. It consists of the dissolution of aluminum or iron anodes, promoting the formation of coagulant reagents in wastewater that helps to coagulate pollutants and the formation of bubbles that favors the mixing (electroflocculation) and the removal of suspended solids by flotation (electroflotation). During the recent years, the combination of this technology with other treatment technologies has become a hot topic looking for a synergistic improvement in the efficiencies. This work aims to review some of the more recent works regarding this topic, in particular the combination of electrocoagulation with ozonation, adsorption and ultrasound irradiation.