ELECTROCOAGULATION PROCESS for SHORT TREATMENT PERIOD of ARSENIC CONTAMINATED WATER

Abstract

The effective arsenic removal rate was achieved by the electrocoagulation (EC) method. The aim of this paper is to study the arsenic removal by EC method applied for short period and to investigate the effects of current density, pH, salt addition, and conductivity on the removal rate and energy consumption. The EC experiments started in batch mode in 10 L plexiglass reactor with five aluminum electrodes. The electrocoagulation was started with the initial arsenic (As) concentration of 1.00 mg/L. Current intensity and voltage values ranged between 1-2 A and 2-15 V, respectively for the process time of 10 min. The highest As removal rate (99%) was found for 5 V and 1 A current application. 1.29 mA/cm2 current density provided the optimum energy consumption (0.60 Wh) for 99% As removal. Increased removal was noticed above pH 8. Current density, pH, and conductivity were found effective factors on the As removal. © 2021 Gheorghe Asachi Technical University of Iasi, Romania. All rights reserved.