Author : Kamal S. Pak

Electrocoagulation process involves applying an electrical current to sacrificial electrodes inside a reactor where the current generates coagulant agent “in situ” and gas. Electrocoagulation is currently experiencing both increasing popularity and considerable technical improvements. Nitrate contamination of water resources has become an increasing problem globally; nitrate levels in water are limited due to health concern. A laboratory batch electrocoagulation reactor was designed to investigate the influence of different operating parameters on the removal efficiency of nitrate from wastewater. The studied parameters was cell current density (6-14 mA/cm2), initial pH (7-11), and initial nitrate concentration (100-500 mg/l), also a comparison between aluminum and iron electrodes was investigated. The results showed that electrocoagulation effectively removed nitrate from wastewater, cell current density and initial pH play important roles. The best removal efficiency of nitrate was achieved at pH=9, also the results showed that aluminum electrodes were slightly more efficient than iron electrodes.

Keywords: Nitrate removal, Electrocoagulation, Batch system, Aluminum electrodes

Article published in International Journal of Current Engineering and Technology, Vol.5, No.2 (April-2015)