Treatment of Industrial Water pollutants by Novel Electrocoagulation Reactor with Effective Sludge Management

Abstract

newline Safe and good quality water is necessary for the existence of life on earth. Rapid newlineindustrialization, population growth, the consequent decline in forest cover and wildlife, newlineand drastic climate change in India (and globally) have resulted in excessive air and newlinewater pollution. This has inevitably led to an imbalance in the ecosystem. Pollution newlinesources are generally classified as point and non-point sources. The former includes newlineindustrial, domestic, and sewage wastewater while the latter includes sediment runoff newlinefrom construction sites; run-off from excess fertilizers, pesticides, etc and nutrient runoff from livestock feedlots. Clean water access is one of the 17 UN sustainable newlinedevelopment goals and it can be achieved only through better management of water newlinesystems. Green and gray infrastructure solutions along with the strict implementation of newlinestatutory policies and regulations are key to maintaining ecosystem balance. This in newlineeffect motivated the development of innovative wastewater treatment technologies. This newlinethesis presents one such method that employs the principle of electrocoagulation (EC). newlineEC is a clean, effective, and environmental friendly technique that combines the newlineprinciples of electrochemistry, flocculation, and other physical processes. It works on newlinethe principle of in-situ generation of coagulants. This is primarily due to the newlinecombination of ions from the sacrificial electrodes and charged wastewater newlinecontaminants. Moreover, the EC process also leads to reduced sludge production newlinerelative to conventional coagulation methods that require the addition of an external newlinereagent. The main components of an EC system are a pair of electrodes immersed in an newlineelectrolyte with a power supply connected to the electrode system. The commonly used newlineelectrodes are aluminum and iron, as they can easily liberate electrons upon the newlineapplication of electric current.