THE INFLUENCE OF ELECTROCHEMICAL TREATMENT OF WATER ON CHLORELLA-VULGARIS WITH REFERENCE TO THE USE OF COPPER AND ZINC ELECTRODES

The control of objectionable growth of algae blooms in animal water troughs, open storage water tanks, water cisterns, reservoirs and others is a permanent problem especially in tropical and subtropical countries. The algae may under certain conditions adversely effect the quality of water. Decomposition produces, including toxic cellular material and other substances, are released into water during cellular lysis which may be present in sufficient concentration to render the water a hazard to human and animal health when used for drinking. The present experimental study was carried out in order to investigate the extent of effciency of electrochemical treatment of scored water with copper- and zinc-electrodes as a method for water purification from the algae Chlorella vulgaris. The laboratory treatment resulted in complete destruction of the algae within 18-19 hours, using a constant current of approximately 30 mA. In addition a practical experiment was carried out with blooming algae in a storage tank of 50 m(3). Algae were killed within 5 days.