Sequential Treatment of Textile Industry Wastewater Using Electrocoagulation and Photo electro-Fenton Processes

This work aims to study the ability of using separated and integrated EC/PEF mode in order to treat textile industry wastewater and the results of them were compared. To achieve this goal, the electrocoagulation process was initially investigated using the Box-Behnken design method. After optimizing the process, the optimal pH, reaction time, and electric current intensity were found to be 6, 16.5 min, and 0.584 A, respectively. Moreover, with the optimized conditions, removal efficiencies of 96% and 70% were achieved for TSS and COD, respectively. This means that the COD was reduced from 538 to 155 mgL(-1) and the TSS was reduced from 221 to 9 mgL(-1) during the electrocoagulation process. The treated effluent was then subjected to the photo electro-Fenton process, which involved the use of two iron electrodes and UV light. After optimizing the process, the electric current intensity was set at 0.02 A, the reaction time was 25.2 min, and the hydrogen peroxide content was 977 mgL(-1). Under these conditions, the COD removal rate was found to be 85%. Moreover, in the PEF, in the reading of the effluent COD, the degree of interference of hydrogen peroxide was calculated. As a result, the final concentration of COD in the effluent was reduced to approximately 25 mgL(-1), while the final concentration of TSS was less than 10 mgL(-1).

Automated summary

This study investigates the use of separated and integrated EC/PEF mode for treating textile industry wastewater and compares their results. The optimized electrocoagulation process achieved a COD removal rate of 96% and a TSS removal rate of 70%. The subsequent photo electro-Fenton process further reduced the COD concentration by 85%.