treatment of real municipal wastewater using aluminum electrode by electrocoagulation process: experimental design and process performance

This study focuses on evaluating the electrocoagulation process as a method for the treatment of real municipal wastewater using aluminum plate electrodes as an anode in a batch electrochemical reactor. an attempt was made to model the chemical oxygen demand (cod) removal and electrical energy consumption (eec) as a function of the critical operating variables for the determination of optimal conditions statistically. the initial ph, current, and reaction time were selected as key independent variables in a five-level central composite design (ccd); at the same time,  cod removal efficiency and eec were considered as the response function. at the optimum conditions proposed by ccd (ph=6.2, i=0.025a, and t=46 min), a maximum cod removal efficiency of 85.7% with electrical energy consumption of 0.151 kw h/m3 was achieved. in addition, the operating costs, energy; and electrode consumptions at optimum conditions were calculated to be 0.1127079 $/m3, 0.151 kwh/m3; and 0.026 kg/m3, respectively. these results presented here prove that the ec process has good performance and great potential for efficient treatment of real municipal wastewater.