Study of the production of hydrogen bubbles at low current densities for electroflotation processes

BACKGROUND: Flotation processes are widely used in waste-water treatment and it is quite important to have a tool to determine and optimize the size distribution of the bubbles produced. In this work, the electrochemical production of bubbles to enhance the performance of electrocoagulation processes by flotation is studied. To do this, a current density range characteristic of electrocoagulation processes is used to produce microbubbles (<5mA cm(-2)), instead of the higher values used in other studies to characterize electroflotation in non-combined processes. RESULTS: Current density and pH were found to influence the process significantly. In the range used, higher current densities allow a larger number of small size bubbles to be obtained, appropriate for use in electroflotation processes. However, at the boundaries of the range, the size of the bubbles was increased advising against use. Neutral pH values also favour the formation of small bubbles, and the presence of possible competing reactions have to be considered because they diminish the gas flow and affect the number of bubbles and their size. The roughness of the surface of the electrode material also has an important influence. CONCLUSIONS: The image acquisition and analysis system developed allows measurement of the size distribution of hydrogen bubbles in the range of current densities studied. Current density and pH seem to be the main parameters affecting the mean diameter of bubbles and the amount of gas produced, and the electrode material may also influence hydrogen production significantly. (C) 2010 Society of Chemical Industry