Influence of operating parameters on the arsenic and boron removal by electrocoagulation

Despite their high boron contents,some boron deposits contain considerable amounts of arsenic. its toxicology and health hazard also has been reported for many years. in this work arsenic and boron removal from synthetic water was studied on laboratory scale by electrocoagulation using aluminum electrodes. the influence of main operating parameters such as current density,stirring speed,supporting electrolyte type and concentration on the arsenic and boron removal was investigated. waste water sample was prepared with initial arsenic concentration of 50 mg l-1 and boron concentration of 1000 mg l-1. current density was varied from 0.18 to 4.28 ma cm-2,stirring speed was varied as 50,150,250,350 rpm,nacl,kcl and na2so4 were used as supporting electrolyte. the obtained experimental results showed that efficiency of arsenic and boron removal increased with increasing current density. as the current density increases,the potential difference applied to the system also increases the energy consumption. increasing the supporting electrolyte concentration increased conductivity of solution and decreased energy consumption. the most favorable supporting electrolyte type was nacl for arsenic and boron removal. the best stirring speed were 150 rpm for arsenic and boron removal. © 2016,chemical society of pakistan. all rights reserved.