Impact of current density, operating time and pH of textile wastewater treatment by electrocoagulation process

Abstract

Treatment of textile wastewater by the electrocoagulation (EC) process is being investigated by this experimental study. The objective of this experiment is to observe the efficiency of the EC process in removing chemical oxygen demand (COD) and turbidity. In this experiment an iron electrode is used in the EC process, and different working parameters such as pH, current density and operating time were studied in an attempt to achieve a higher removal capacity. The results show that the maximum COD removal occurred at neutral pH at operating time 30 min. COD and turbidity removal reaches at maximum, with optimum consumption of electrodes, between current density 85-95 A/m2, and only trace amounts of metals were determined in the EC treated effluent. © Korean Society of Environmental Engineers.