Assessment of kinetics behavior of electrocoagulation process for the removal of suspended solids and metals from synthetic water

Abstract

Globalization, industrialization, mining, and uncontrolled population growth have fostered a shortage of potable water. Therefore, it has become imperative to understand an effective and reasonable water purification technique. A renewed interest in electrocoagulation (EC) has been spurred by the search for reliable, cost-effective, water-treatment processes. This paper has elucidated a technical approach for getting rid of heavy metals and total suspended solids (TSS) from synthetic water using an aluminum electrode. The effect of operational parameters, such as current density, inter-electrode distance, operating time, and pH, were studied and evaluated for maximum efficiency. This study corroborates the correlation between current density and removal efficiency. Neutral pH and a low electrode gap have been found to aid the efficacy of the EC setup. The outcome indicates that a maximum TSS removal efficiency of 76.6% occurred at a current density of 5.3 mA/cm2 during a contact time of 30 min. In the case of heavy metals remediation, 40 min of process time exhibited extremely reduced rates of 99%, 59.2%, and 82.1%, for Cu, Cr, and Zn, respectively. Moreover, kinetic study has also demonstrated that pollutants removal follows first-and second-order model with current density and EC time being dependent.