Trends in electro-Fenton process for water and wastewater treatment: An overview

Organic compound, especially aromatic compound is the main pollutant in industrial effluent. Conventional wastewater treatment processes are inefficient for the removal of these types of toxic and hazardous pollutants from wastewater. Electro Fenton is one of the powerful and environmentally friendly emerging technologies for the remediation of wastewaters containing organic, especially aromatic compounds. This paper reviews the fundamentals and recent developments in electro Fenton process. Electro Fenton process utilizes different electrolytic reactors such as bubble reactor, filter press reactor, divided double-electrode electrochemical cell, divided three-electrode electrochemical cell and double compartment cell. Different cathodes as working electrode and anodes as counter electrode used in this process are analyzed. The effects of various operating parameters and their optimum ranges for maximum pollutant removal and mineralization are reviewed. Also various pollutants removed by this process are evaluated. Quick removal and mineralization of pollutants and their intermediate reaction products were reported. (C) 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.