Preparation and Application of Aluminum-Carbon Microelectrolysis Materials

The production of dyes is a major source of industrial wastewater, so it is important to develop efficient ways of treating this water. In this paper, the authors describe the use of a continuous aluminum-carbon microelectrolysis process (CACMP) to treat the wastewater, and the authors describe the optimum condition for this procedure. A novel technique for preparing the aluminum-carbon microelectrolysis material (ACMM) was optimized by Box-Behnken design, and the performance of the ACMM was estimated by measuring the changes in the chemical oxygen demand (COD) and determining the efficiencies for the removal of ammonia nitrogen (NH4+-N) and color for an alkaline dye wastewater with a pH of 12.0. The optimum conditions for the ACMM were a mass ratio of aluminum to carbon of 1.26, a sintering time of 88.5min, a sintering temperature of 500 degrees C and a TiO2 mass percentage of 4.78%. The conditions for the CACMP were an initial pH of 12, a hydraulic retention time of 9h, and a dissolved oxygen concentration of 3-5mg/L. During the stable operation period of the CACMP, the COD improved by more than 50%, more than 50% of the NH4+-N was removed, color removal efficiency was higher than 68%, and the biodegradability of the wastewater significantly improved.