Enhancement of COD-Nutrients Removals and Filterability of Secondary Clarifier Municipal Wastewater Influent Using Electrocoagulation Technique

The present work studied experimentally the variations of some characteristics of the mixed liquor solution in wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) under the effect of electrocoagulation (EC) technique. Unlike conventional methods, electrocoagulation was performed using cylindrical perforated iron electrodes to achieve a good distribution of the applied DC field onto the municipal wastewater. Effects of electrocoagulation time, applied voltage gradient, and aeration on the mixed liquor characteristics were considered. The study figured out the dependency of the local pH and oxidation potential reduction (OPR) values, near anode and cathode on these operational conditions. It was found that electrocoagulation process reached steady state conditions in no more than 60 minutes. At high voltage gradient (6 V/cm), the steady removal efficiencies of COD and nutrients exceeded 89%. While aeration showed moderate influence on removal efficiencies and wastewater sludge filterability, it significantly affected the pH and ORP near the electrodes especially at the low voltage gradient. Results also indicated that the sludge filterability was improved notably by increasing the voltage gradient to have minimal levels of specific-resistance to filtration (SRF). © 2013 Copyright Taylor and Francis Group, LLC.