Decolorization of basic dye solutions by electrocoagulation: An investigation of the effect of operational parameters

Electrocoagulation (EC) is one of the most effective techniques to remove color and organic pollutants from wastewater, which reduces the sludge generation. In this paper, electrocoagulation has been used for the removal of color from solutions containing C. I. Basic Red 46 (BR46) and C. I. Basic Blue 3 (BB3). These dyes are used in the wool and blanket factories for fiber dyeing. The effect of operational parameters such as current density, initial pH of the solution, time of electrolysis, initial dye concentration and solution conductivity were studied in an attempt to reach higher removal efficiency. The findings in this study shows that an increase in the current density up to 60–80 A m−2 enhanced the color removal efficiency, the electrolysis time was 5 min and the range of pH was determined between 5.5 and 8.5 for two mentioned dye solutions. It was found that for, the initial concentration of dye in solutions should not be higher than 80 mg l−1 in order to achieve a high color removal percentage. The optimum conductivity was found to be 8 mS cm−1, which was adjusted using proper amount of NaCl with the dye concentration of 50 mg l−1. Electrical energy consumption in the above conditions for the decolorization of the dye solutions containing BR46 and BB3 were 4.70 kWh (kgdye removed)−1 and 7.57 kWh (kgdye removed)−1, respectively. Also, during the EC process under the optimized conditions, the COD decreased by more than 75% and 99% in dye solutions containing BB3 and BR46, respectively.