Semi-industrial remediation of effluents polluted by the artisanal activities through bipolar electrocoagulation with aluminum sacrificial electrodes

Bipolar electrocoagulation with aluminum sacrificial electrodes was designed to simultaneously remove Cr(VI), phosphorus, chemical oxygen demand and turbidity from both tanning, domestic and industrial wastewater. The experimental setup was demonstrated in a semi-industrial scale for the remediation of effluents released from Fez city (Morocco), which exhibited highly variable composition and pH. The results showed that the elimination levels are enhancing with increasing of the energy consumption and electrode amount. The optimum conditions of the electrocoagulation process to reduce the pollutants in over 90% were identified at a current density of 5 mA cm(-2) that takes around 10 to 30 min at neutral pH. Thus, the proposed method could be considered as an effective approach in the conventional treatment of wastewater from artisanal activities.