A Combined Electrocoagulation-Electroperoxidation Process for the Tertiary Treatment of Domestic Wastewaters

The aim of this study is to develop a process that combines electrocoagulation and electroperoxidation (EC-EP) and to evaluate its performance in treating domestic wastewaters (DWW). Electrolysis was performed using a parallelepipedic electrolytic cell (0.5 L) containing one sacrificial anode (mild steel or aluminum) and one cathode (vitreous carbon). The effects of the treatment time, current density, and type of anode electrode on the process performance were examined. The experimental results revealed that a current density of 4.0 mA cm(-2) was beneficial for DWW treatment. There was a decrease in the chemical oxygen demand (COD), suspended solid (SS), turbidity, color, and total phosphorus (P-tot) by 67+9, 98+2, 55+10, 61+9, and 97+0 %, respectively, for a treatment time of 60 min in the electrolysis cell in the presence of mild steel (anode) and vitreous carbon (cathode) electrodes. The process was also determined to be effective for removing pathogens (99+/-1 % removal), such as fecal coliform (the loginactivation was higher than 2 units).