Electrocoagulation and chemical coagulation for treatment of Al-Kut textile wastewater: A comparative study

Abstract

In this study, two processes were utilized to achieve the most capable treatment for the effluent of Al-Kut textile factory, Iraq. The processes are electrocoagulation and chemical coagulation. The investigation was paid attention into operation factors; such as time, pH and electrical conductivity; and pollution parameters like turbidity and TDS. Different voltages of 10, 20 and 30 V with various electrical currents of 1, 2 and 3 A were adopted. Aluminum electro-generated amount is used initially in adding to the chemical coagulation with jar test. The results showed a reduction in the pollution contents in which depend on the amount of Al⁺³ ions resulted by electrodissolution of aluminum anode. It was found that at voltage 20 and current 2, the effective turbidity removal was 96.4% at pH 6.2, EC 990 µS/cm and TDS 501 mg/L. While higher removal of turbidity in chemical coagulation was 75.4% at 0.02 mg/L dose, pH 8.3, EC 1788 μS/m and TDS 1514 mg/L. The electrocoagulation was more effective to eliminate TDS and presented higher removal of turbidity compared to chemical coagulation. Based on the analysis, the electrocoagulation is more efficient that the textile effluent treated can be reused or rejected without risk in the environment.