Pollutant Removal Efficiency of Electrocoagulation Method from Industrial Wastewater: Comparison with Other Treatment Methods and Key Operational Parameters-a Comparative Study Review

Various types of industries discharge their untreated contaminated water into the environment every year. This untreated water contains the pollutants that can negatively affect the environment and biosphere. Many methods are under practice at the moment to treat this wastewater. Among the variety of methods proposed and employed currently is the electrocoagulation (EC) method. This technique involves destabilizing the pollutants of the wastewater through the electric current flowing between the electrodes. The electrodes are mainly made of iron or aluminum. Over the past years, this technique has shown a great potential towards removal of different pollutant types from variety of wastewater. Like many other processes, the EC method is also governed and affected by various parameters such as pH, operation time, types of electrodes, and current density. It is important to keep these parameters under check and at the optimum desired value for the maximum pollutant removal. The optimum value depends upon the wastewater and the composition of the contaminants to be segregated. The present study reviews and compares the efficiency of EC with other methods in use so far. Compared to other methods, EC is shown to be energy efficient and reducing operation costs. The study also presents the challenges faced by this technique, such as electrode passivation, and the possible ways to deal with them in order to improve the overall performance effectiveness.