Electrochemical treatment of colour index reactive orange 84 and textile wastewater by using stainless steel and iron electrodes

Abstract

In this study, two case studies were carried out: Electrocoagulation (EC) of a reactive textile dye solution and a textile wastewater. Stainless steel (SS) and iron (Fe) electrodes were used as sacrificial electrodes in parallel connection modes. Effects of pH, current density, and operating time on performance of EC were investigated. Optimum parameters obtained from dye experiments were applied to treatment of the textile wastewater. According to the experimental results, SS electrodes were found to be superior compared with Fe electrodes for treatment of both the dye and the textile wastewater. By using SS electrodes, the textile wastewater was electrocoagulated successfully with 89.7% of COD, 91.2% of TOC, 90.3% of turbidity, and 94.1% of TSS removal efficiencies as well as 2.43 kWh/m3 of energy and 0.05 kg/m 3 of electrode consumptions, 1.061 kg/m3 of sludge production, and 0.62 /m3 of total operating cost. © 2011 American Institute of Chemical Engineers Environ Prog, 32: 60-68, 2013. Copyright © 2011 American Institute of Chemical Engineers.