Wastewater treatment using Electrocoagulation process

The industrial wastewater is highly polluted in nature with the presence of variable characteristics
such as oil and grease, excess chloride content, acids and alkaline, total solids etc. Due to this
problem, it is not possible to release wastewater into a watercourse or on land. There are many
treatment methods are available to remove these pollutants. Electrocoagulation is one of the
wastewater treatment method which is easy to apply and cheap in cost.

Electro means applying an electrical charge to water and coagulation is a process of reducing the
strength of pollutants. Copper, graphite, aluminum, zinc are the different electrodes used in this
process. In this past decade, most developed countries started to use this process for the treatment
of industrial wastewater. This process provides a fast rate of pollutant removal and the chemical
additive is not required.

Apparatus required:

2-litre capacity borosilicate glass beaker

Electrodes - (Copper or Aluminium material)

Single strand wire

DC power supply unit

Wastewater sample

Methods:

Collection of wastewater sample from industry

Determination of initial characteristics of industrial wastewater

Experimental setup

Analysis and Results

Conclusion

Project Implementation:

Determine the initial characteristics (Total solids, chloride content, etc.) of wastewater sample

Fill the 2-litre beaker with wastewater sample collected from the industry.

Use two copper or aluminium electrode with dimension 5cm*5cm and 1mm thickness

Single stand wire connected to the electrodes to supply the DC current to the system

Conduct the experiment with different voltages like 10volts, 20volts and 30volts

Change the spacing between the electrodes at different voltages like 2cm,4cm and 6cm.
For each voltage at every 20 minutes interval take out the small quantity wastewater from the
beaker for analysis purpose.

Find out the characteristics of the sample and compare the values with initial characteristics to get
the removal efficiency.

Find the best voltage and electrolysis time based on the highest removal efficiency values

Benefits:

Treats many contaminants.

Sludge minimization

Capital and Operating cost are less than conventional technologies.

Low power required

Generally, no chemical additions required.

Low maintenance.

Provides consistent and reliable results.

Best suited for the removal of oil and grease.