Effective Elimination of Pollutants from Wastewater through a Combination Aerated-Photo-Electrocoagulation Technique: Investigation on Operational Parameters

Electrocoagulation (EleC) can be combined with other processes to improve water and wastewater pollutant removal. EleC exhibits enhanced performance when combined with advanced oxidation processes (AOPs). The reduction of color and COD in LLW was examined using an aerated, photo (UV), aerated+UV, EleC, aerated+EleC, UV+EleC, and aerated+UV+EleC methods. Experimental results showed that at the following parameters: treatment duration (TD) = 75 min, pH = 7, aerated flow rate (AFR) = 60 l min −1 , UV power = 32 W, current density (J) = 0.50 A dm −2 , COD = 2500 mg l −1 , and electrode pair (EleP) = Fe/Fe, the aerated+UV+EleC method eliminated nearly 100% of color and 95.50% of COD from LLW with an electrical energy consumption of 7.70 kWh m −3 . Compared to results from aerated, UV, aerated/UV, EleC, aerated/EC, and UV/EleC procedures, the values discovered were substantially higher. In order to ascertain the most favorable circumstances for operation, the impact of a number of different control factors, including TD: 15–90 min, AFR: 10–60 l min −1 , UV power: 8–32 W, J: 0.1–0.60 A dm −2 , CODs: 1250–6250 mg l −1 , pH: 1–11, GBE: 1–5 cm, and EleP: Al/Al, Al/Fe, Fe/Al, Fe/Fe on color and COD reduction was investigated. The results demonstrated that LLW was effectively treated using aerated+UV+EleC treatment combination.