The effectiveness of anode variations for electrocoagulation and its application for laundry wastewater treatment

Abstract

Since Diponegoro University moved its campus to the Tembalang area, it has been full of issues of decreasing groundwater quality and aesthetic decline caused by laundry wastewater and washing and toilet wastewater which has growing rapidly along with the growth of boarding houses in the Tembalang area. This will have an impact on the health quality of the people who live in the Tembalang area. This study aims to reduce the content of dissolved organic matter in laundry wastewater and bath wash also bath, wash and toilet wastewater. The method chosen was the electrocoagulation method, using 2 different electrodes. The electrodes chosen are aluminum metal and ferrous metal (as anode) and carbon (as cathode). With the electrocoagulation method using aluminum electrodes (as anode) and carbon (as a cathode) the amount of organic material that could be removed was 60.1%. Meanwhile, with ferrous metal (as anode) and carbon (as cathode) the amount of organic material that can be removed is smaller, namely 52.2%. The addition of 100 ppm NaCl solution and 100 ppm Na2SO4 solution was able to increase the efficiency of organic matter removal by 1.8-2.5%.