Efficiency of electroflocculation in the treatment of water contaminated by organic waste

Abstract

 

Population growth has led to occupation and housing near rivers and lakes. This contributes to the increase of water pollution. The industrial laundry sector, for example, consumes a large quantity for its processes and pollutes water bodies due to the improper disposal of its effluents which contain numerous harmful compounds. This study employed electroflocculation in effluent treatment and evaluated its efficiency by analyzing turbidity, chemical oxygen demand, and pH levels. It used aluminum and zinc plates as sacrificial electrodes and principal component analysis (PCA) as a statistical tool. A maximum electroflocculation time of 40 min was utilized in order to obtain efficient results from the study. The experiment showed significant improvement in the water quality in the physicochemical aspects, primarily concerning the reduction of organic matter in the effluent. The efficiency of this treatment increased with higher current; however, both the aluminum and zinc plates reacted differently to pH, COD, and turbidity. Two principal components were generated to explain 86.90% of the data variance in the experiment. The principal component analysis indicated that the aluminum electrode showed the best correlation (|>0.5|) for pH, COD, and turbidity in the effluent treatment.