Mechanism of the electrocoagulation process and its application for treatment of wastewater: A review

Abstract

Treatment of wastewater, especially of industrial origin, is a major challenge. Although wastewater treatment methods have already been established, active efforts are being made to develop more efficient and economical methods. In recent years, the attention has been focused on electrochemical methods, most of which are focused on electrocoagulation. This paper gives a detailed description of the mechanism of the electrocoagulation process, as well as the application of this method in wastewater treatment of different origins.

Efficient and Sustainable Remediation of Refinery Wastewater using Electrocoagulation and Advanced Oxidation Techniques

“…This is explained because higher temperatures may result in the production of more aluminum hydroxide coagulant ions. For example, increasing the temperature from 298 K to 332 K as shown in Figure 11 considerably improved the RE% from the colloidal calcareo-argillaceous postponement, and these higher temperatures have also been found to reduce energy consumption [Jovanović et al, 2021]. Corresponding to an increase in the RE%, running EC at high temperatures reduces the applied voltage condition, so it may effectively lower the system's costs.…”

“…Most of the EC investigations have been conducted at ambient temperature [Sen et al, 2019]. However, studying the effect of using different temperatures on the pollutant RE% in EC procedures has mainly determined that high temperature solutions result in further operative and cost-effective colloidal removal [Jovanović et al, 2021]. This is explained because higher temperatures may result in the production of more aluminum hydroxide coagulant ions.…”

Electrocoagulation using aluminum electrodes as a sustainable and economic method for the removal of kinetic hydrate inhibitor (polyvinyl pyrrolidone) from produced wastewaters

“…Electrocoagulation is an electrochemical technique for water treatment based on the anodic dissolution of a sacrificial metal, by averaging the related reactions such as the cathodic reduction of water that gives hydroxo-metal complexes, which ensure the destabilization and the adsorption of the dissolved pollutants and the flocculation of the aggregates formed (Ghernaout, 2019;Romani et al, 2020;Jovanović et al, 2021;Lucakova et al, 2021;AlJaberi et al, 2022;Lu et al, 2022;Medina-Collana et al, 2023). It is considered a complex electrochemical process with the involvement of several synergistic mechanisms contributing to the elimination of water pollution (Bensalah, 2011;Orescanin et al, 2014;Abdulrazzaq et al, 2021;Elkhatib et al, 2021;Idusuyi et al, 2022).…”

“…They are then removed by electroflotation, or sedimentation and filtration (Al-Qodah and Al-Shannag, 2017;Hendaoui et al, 2021;Akter et al, 2022;Othmani et al, 2022;Hu et al, 2023). Thus, instead of adding chemical coagulants as in the conventional coagulation method, the coagulating agents are generated in situ (Mollah et al, 2004;Tchamango et al, 2018;Jovanović et al, 2021). Meanwhile, the electrolysis of water generates bubbles of hydrogen gas by cathodic reduction of water and oxygen gas by anodic oxidation of water.…”