Applicability of diamond electrode/anode to the electrochemical treatment of a real textile effluent

In this work, a real effluent discharged by Brazilian textile industry, has been electrochemically treated using boron doped diamond (BDD) anode for removing chemical oxygen demand (COD) and colour. Preliminary experiments were performed under real discharged effluent conditions (pH and conductivity) in order to verify the applicability of this treatment process. However, a partial elimination of COD and colour effluent were achieved, depending on applied current density (20, 40 and 60 mA cm(-2)), respectively. Therefore, different set of experiments were carried out where an amount Na2SO4 was added in the real effluent: then, COD of textile effluent was satisfactorily reduced by employing different operational conditions (current density, temperature, Na2SO4 concentration, flow rate), reducing the time of depuration and consequently, the costs, confirming the potential efficiency of this textile effluent treatment. (C) 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.