Impact of Combined Electrolysis and Activated Sludge Process on Municipal Wastewater Treatment

Electrochemical methods for the treatment of municipal and industrial wastewater are used either independently or in conjunction with biological methods for pretreatment or posttreatment of biologically treated wastewater. In our work, the combination of these processes was studied, where pre-electrolysis was used to produce dissolved iron before the activation process. Electrolysis was also directly introduced into the activation using either iron or carbon electrodes. The surface of one iron electrode was 32.2 cm2, voltage at the electrodes was 21 V, and current was 270 mA. The surface of one carbon electrode was 7.54 cm2, current was 82.5 mA, and voltage at the electrodes was 21 V. Laboratory research on synthetic municipal wastewater treatment using a combination of electrolysis and activation processes showed that the use of iron electrodes increases the efficiency of phosphorus removal compared to its precipitation with iron salts. Electrolysis has shown a positive effect on the sedimentation properties of sludge and the destruction of filamentous microorganisms. Even though it negatively affected the respiration rates of activated sludge and the denitrification efficiency, it did not have a negative impact on the nitrification activity of sludge.