Treatment of industrial estate wastewater by the application of electrocoagulation process using iron electrodes

In this study electrocoagulation (EC) of industrial estate wastewater taken from the inlet of wastewater treatment plant was investigated using sacrificial iron electrodes. Employing a pole changer to homogenous consumption of electrodes, studies on the parameters such as current density, supporting electrolyte concentration and initial pH, which have significant effects on COD removal and hence the energy consumption, were performed. Hydrogen peroxide was used in different concentrations to observe its effects on COD removal efficiency and the energy consumption. Sludge productions were also calculated for all experiments. COD removal efficiency of ∼92% was obtained at the best experimental conditions (i = 30 mA/cm2, SE = 3 mM Na2SO4, pH = original pH (∼6) of the wastewater, 1500 mg/L H2O2) with an energy cost of €3.41/m3 wastewater treated and the sludge production of 5.45 g per g COD removed.