Lab scale study on electrocoagulation defluoridation process optimization along with aluminium leaching in the process and comparison with full scale plant operation

An excess or lack of fluoride in drinking water is harmful to human health. Desirable and permissible standards of fluoride in drinking water are 1.0 and 1.5 mg/L, respectively, as per Indian drinking water quality standards i.e., BIS 10500, 1991. In this paper, the performance of an electro-coagulation defluoridation batch process with aluminium electrodes was investigated. Different operational conditions such as fluoride concentration in water, pH and current density were varied and performance of the process was examined. Influence of operational conditions on (i) electrode polarization phenomena, (ii) pH evolution during electrolysis and (iii) the amount of aluminium released (coagulant) was investigated. Removal by electrodes is primarily responsible for the high defluoridation efficiency and the adsorption by hydroxide aluminium floc provides secondary effect. Experimental data obtained at optimum conditions that favored simultaneous mixing and flotation confirmed that concentrations lower than 1 mg/L could be achieved when initial concentrations were between 2 and 20 mg/L. pH value was found to be an important parameter that affected fluoride removal significantly. The optimal initial pH range is between 6 and 7 at which effective defluoridation and removal efficiencies over 98% were achieved. Furthermore, experimental results prominently displayed that an increase in current density substantially reduces the treatment duration, but with increased residual aluminium level. The paper focuses on pilot scale defluoridation process optimization along with aluminium leaching and experimental results were compared with a full-scale plant having capacity of 600 liter per batch.