Treatment of Tannery Wastewater by the Application of Electrocoagulation Process Using Iron and Aluminum Electrodes

Abstract

Until relatively recently, little has been done of effective technique “zero effluent” to conserve energy and water. Tannery wastewater is known as complex characteristics. In this study batch electrocoagulation experiments were carried out to assess the removal of color and chemical oxygen demand (COD) from tannery wastewater using two types of electrode materials: aluminum and iron. The effects of current density, electrolysis time and initial pH were investigated for tannery wastewater. Therefore, the operating costs for each electrode have been calculated. Based on results, it can be concluded that iron is tremendous to aluminum as electrode material, from COD removal and energy consumption views. All the conclusions of the study revealed that treatment of tannery by EC can be applied as a step of a hybrid treatment.