Effect of different electrode configuration modes on the performance of electrocoagulation

Abstract

The effect of electrode configuration on the performance of electrocoagulation has been studied by performing experiments to treat synthetic dye solution (100 ppm) containing reactive orange 4 (RO4) dye using aluminum electrodes in bipolar (BP), monopolar series (MP-S), & monopolar parallel (MP-P) connection modes. The experimental results were interpreted in terms of color removal efficiency (CRE), electrical energy consumption (EEC) & operating cost (OC). The BP connection mode was found to be efficient as the rate of color removal, CRE, EEC & OC were found to be maximum for the BP connection mode, followed by MP-S and MP-P connection mode. The experiments were conducted at the applied current of 0.05 A, pH of 6.1 ± 0.1, inter-electrode distance of 1.0 cm, agitation speed of 200 rpm, and CRE was found to be 97.12 % for BP, 96.14 % for MP-S, and 94.02 % for MP-P connection mode. Since the rate of color removal and CRE was highest in the BP connection mode, the kinetic study for dye removal was performed for the BP connection mode and it was noticed that the removal of RO4 dye from its synthetic solution follows a second-order model.