Study on synergies in the removal of organic micropollutants using combined iron electrocoagulation and irradiation

Student report (2023)

Authors

A. Soodan Civil Engineering & Geosciences

Contributors

D. van Halem Sanitary Engineering - CEG (mentor)
M. Roy Sanitary Engineering - CEG (graduation committee member)
Faculty
Civil Engineering & Geosciences, Civil Engineering & Geosciences
Copyright: © 2023 Akhilesh Soodan
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Published Date

16-01-2023

Language

English

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Faculty

Civil Engineering & Geosciences

Abstract

This study analyses the removal of organic micropollutants (OMPs) through iron electrocoagulation in the presence of solar radiation. Methylene Blue (MB) dye has been considered as a contaminant which is removed by the action of highly reactive oxygen species (ROS) formed as intermediates during electrocoagulation (charge dosage, CD = 30 C/L and charge dosage rate, CDR = 5 C/L/min). The impact of pH on the removal rate is observed throughout the experiment. The effect of radiation (300-400 nm, 65 W/m2) on electrocoagulation has been further studied by performing iron electrocoagulation in a solar simulator (ECS) and comparing it with iron electrocoagulation in the air (EC), iron electrocoagulation with H2O2 – electro-fenton process (EF) and iron electrocoagulation with H2O2 in a solar simulator– photo-electro-fenton process in a solar simulator (PEF). The results of MB removal efficiency for each process can be deduced as: PEF = EF > ECS > EC; which conveys that combined electrocoagulation and solar radiation has synergies in the removal of OMPs, while there’s no impact of solar radiation in case of PEF when compared to EF. Further, the concentration removal capability in PEF and EF decline with the pH increasing from 3 to 9, while in case of EC and ECS, there’s is a slight improvement in the concentration removal from pH 6 to pH 8.