Critical evaluation of mechanism responsible for biomass abatement during electrochemical coagulation (EC) process: A critical review

This is a first review paper that delineates fundamental disinfection mechanism undergoes during the simple electrochemical coagulation (EC) process. The elucidation of detailed mechanistic phenomenon of EC process involved would help to enhance the disinfection efficiency. In this context, the biomass (bacteria, virus and algae) abatement mechanism by EC is critically reviewed and rationalized based on the experimental demonstration performed from the recent decade. Whereas, the effect of most significant abiotic operating parameters, dissolved contents and bacteria cell wall composition on biomass reduction are explored in detail. From these analyses, physical removal and chemical inactivation routes are identified for bacteria abatement mechanism during the EC process using sacrificial electrodes. Which includes (i) enmeshment of microbial contaminants by EC flocs, (ii) sweeping flocculation is preferentially for destabilization of negatively charged biomass, and (iii) inactivation/attenuation of micro-organism cell walls by electrochemically induced reactive oxygen species (ROS) or direct interaction of electric field. Perhaps, the overall abatement mechanism attributes due to the aforementioned phenomenon endures independently and/or synergistically during the EC process. Nonetheless, to obtain better understanding of virus and algae abatement mechanism, we require more experimental investigation on algae and virus removal. Eventually, more intensive research efforts on biomass attenuation by EC are most important to reinforce this claim.