Mitigation of wastewater biological pollution using the electrocoagulation method

Abstract

Biological pollution of water and wastewater is a global grave concern, especially in developing countries due to insufficient treatment and sanitation. Additionally, the poor economy of the majority of the developing countries limits both applications of advanced treatment technologies and modern monitoring systems, which intensifies the problem of biological pollution. In this investigation, the electrocoagulation method, which is in situ production of coagulation agents by passing electric current via metallic electrodes, has been used as an affordable treatment method for the removal of bacteria from municipal wastewater (E. coli as an indicator). Wastewater sample was collected from Al-Rustamyiah wastewater treatment plant, Baghdad city, Iraq. In this investigation, the electrocoagulation unit was supplied with iron electrodes (Fe-ELE). The impacts of current density (CD) and electrodes gapping (EG) on the performance of the Fe-ELE performance were optimized to attain the best activation percentage. The obtained results showed that the Fe-ELE achieved full deactivation of the E. coli after 45 minutes of treatment at EG of 5 mm, CD of 2 mA/cm^2, and an initial pH of 6.0.