Electrochemical treatment and operating cost analysis of textile wastewater using sacrificial iron electrodes

Electrocoagulation (EC) method with iron electrode was used to treat the textile wastewater in a batch reactor. Iron electrode material was used as a sacrificial electrode in monopolar parallel mode in this study. The removal efficiencies of the wastewater by EC were affected by initial pH of the solution, current density, conductivity and time of electrolysis. Under the optimal experimental conditions (initial pH 6.9, current density of 10 mA/cm(2), conductivity of 3,990 microS/cm, and electrolysis time of 10 min), the treatment of textile wastewater by the EC process led to a removal capacity of 78% of chemical oxygen demand (COD) and 92% of turbidity. The energy and electrode consumptions at the optimum conditions were calculated to be 0.7 kWh/kg COD (1.7 kWh/m(3)) and 0.2 kgFe/kg COD (0.5 kgFe/m(3)), respectively. Moreover, the operating cost was calculated as 0.2 euro/kg removed COD or 0.5 euro/m(3) treated wastewater. Zeta potential measurement was used to determine the charge of particle formed during the EC which revealed that Fe(OH)(3) might be responsible for the EC process.