Comprehensive understanding of electrochemical treatment systems combined with biological processes for wastewater remediation

The presence of toxic pollutants in wastewater discharge can affect the environment negatively due to presence of the organic and inorganic contaminants. The application of the electrochemical process in wastewater treatment is promising, specifically in treating these harmful pollutants from the aquatic environment. This review focused on recent applications of the electrochemical process for the remediation of such harmful pol-lutants from aquatic environments. Furthermore, the process conditions that affect the electrochemical process performance are evaluated, and the appropriate treatment processes are suggested according to the presence of organic and inorganic contaminants. Electrocoagulation, electrooxidation, and electro-Fenton applications in wastewater have shown effective performance with high removal rates. The disadvantages of these processes are the formation of toxic intermediate metabolites, high energy consumption, and sludge generation. To overcome such disadvantages combined ecotechnologies can be applied in large-scale wastewater pollutants removal. The combination of electrochemical and biological treatment has gained importance, increased removal performance remarkably, and decreased operational costs. The critical discussion with depth information in this review could be beneficial for wastewater treatment plant operators throughout the world.

Automated summary

The presence of organic and inorganic contaminants in wastewater discharge has a negative impact on the environment. The electrochemical process shows promise for treating these harmful pollutants from aquatic environments. This review focuses on recent applications of electrochemical processes for removing such contaminants. Electrocoagulation, electrooxidation, and electro-Fenton applications have demonstrated effective performance with high removal rates. However, these processes have drawbacks such as the generation of toxic intermediate metabolites, high energy consumption, and sludge formation. The combination of electrochemical and biological treatment has gained importance in large-scale wastewater pollutant removal, improving removal performance and reducing operational costs.