Electrochemical Process for the Treatment of Drinking Water

Abstract

Removal of fluoride from model water (distilled water + NaF salt + Na(2)SO(4)) by electrocoagulation using iron electrode was investigated in this study. Experiments were conducted to evaluate the effects of current density (0.5-3 mA/cm(2)), initial pH (5-9), and supporting electrolyte (Na(2)SO(4)) dosage (0.005-0.03M) on the performance of the system. The influent pH value was found to be a very important parameter that affected fluoride removal significantly. Therefore, influent pH value of 6 was determined to be the most proper value for this study. The highest treatment efficiency was obtained for the largest applicable current density. The initial fluoride concentration of 5 mg/L was reduced down to 0.82 mg/L with the removal efficiency of 83.6 % and electrical energy consumption (EEC) of 1.4 kWh/m(3) at 1 mA/cm(2) whereas 1.03 mg/L which is within the range suggested by WHO was reached with the removal efficiency of 79.4% and EEC of 0.2 kWh/m(3) at the current density of 0.5 mA/cm(2).