Application of innovative electrochemical and microbial electrochemical technologies for the efficacious removal of emerging contaminants from wastewater: A review

Examining Current and Future Applications of Electrocoagulation in Wastewater Treatment

“…Additionally, EC can function under a wide range of conditions, including high salt and pH levels. In contrast, PC is sensitive to environmental factors such as pH, temperature, and the presence of organic matter [22], while EF only operates under a narrow acidic pH range [17,23].…”

“…In addition, EC utilizes electrochemical methods exclusively to eliminate pollutants without relying on biological processes, which are not very effective for breaking down biodegradable pollutants and soluble organic substances [20]. However, other treatment methods, such as PC [20,24], EF [21], microbial electrolysis cell (MEC), and microbial fuel cell (MFC) [17], may be more effective at treating water with organic pollutants. These methods involve bio-electrochemical processes or the use of chemicals and light to support the treatment process and, therefore, may be more efficient.…”

“…There are a vast number of published research papers from the last two decades that sought to investigate the performance of EC for the treatment of different wastewater. Previous studies have reported that EC is effective for the removal of contaminants such as heavy metals [8,9], oil droplets [10], dyes [11], suspended solids [12], natural organic matter (NOM) [13,14], and phosphorous [15,16] in wastewaters including municipal sewage, industrial wastewater, and polluted natural water [5,17,18]. In this review paper, the characteristics of EC and operational parameters are discussed, followed by an analysis of research trends of publications utilizing the Scopus database and VOSviewer software.…”

Critical assessment of advanced oxidation processes and bio-electrochemical integrated systems for removing emerging contaminants from wastewater

“…Naturally, AOPs have attracted substantial attention due to their potency to convert aqueous contaminants into relatively benevolent species by exploiting reactive oxygen species (ROS). 41 The AOPs are primarily utilised for biologically toxic or non-degradable substances found in wastewater, including volatile organic compounds, insecticides, aromatics, and petroleum components and are characterized based on the different working mechanisms. 42 Electrochemical and photochemical oxidations are among those remediation techniques which are used for the remediation of ECs present in water bodies and both of these technologies are discussed in the subsequent sections.…”

“…In fact, in some cases, the rate of chlorine-mediated oxidation of organic contaminants was considerably faster than that achieved by ˙OH radicals. 41 Howbeit, chlorine oxidation can form organo-chlorinated by-products in the treated effluent, which are not amenable to mineralisation and have adverse health effects. 45 Therefore, the threshold concentration of the chlorine concentration needs to be defined, which would allow the efficient degradation of organic contaminants, however, with less accumulation of undesired noxious products.…”