a graphite cathode modified by an industrial grade of carbon black for assisting electro-fenton technique: a pesticide wastewater treatment

In this study, an electro-fenton (ef) reaction was employed to treat hazardous and resistant wastewater from a pesticide factory using graphite cathode modified with industrial carbon black (n330). carbon black nanoparticles (n330) could increase the porosity of the cathode surface and hydrogen peroxide production during the electro-fenton reaction. in order to examine the quality of the porous surface of the modified cathode, atomic force microscopy (afm) and field emission scanning electron microscopy (fesem) tests were successfully applied. moreover, the performance of the modified cathode was assessed by the cyclic voltammetry (cv) test. the experiments were designed using the central composite designs (ccd) technique under the response surface methodology (rsm). the analysis of variance (anova) showed that the model accurately predicted the process. 78.15% of cod removal was optimally found with a current intensity of 253 ma, air flow rate of 1.56 l/min, fe2+ catalyst dosage of 0.63 g, ph of 3, and reaction time of 126 min, while 33.78% of cod removal (with 15 mmol/l of hydrogen peroxide production) was obtained at ph of 6 (close to the original ph of wastewater) on the modified cathode.