Influence of operating conditions on the removal of silica and hardness by continuous electrocoagulation

Mahmood, Mudasar; Yasri, Nael; Fuladpanjeh-Hojaghan, Behzad; Roberts, Edward P.L.

doi:10.1016/j.jece.2022.108899

Cited by 9 publications

(1 citation statement)

References 39 publications

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“…Silica and hardness removal is an important function of many raw and process water treatment trains. Irreversible membrane fouling, such as mineral scaling, which limits the degree of water recovery under high pressure, and the high operational cost are the primary drawbacks of membrane technologies. , Recent studies show that EC has high potential for silica and hardness removal from various waters (e.g., groundwater, cooling tower blowdown water, and oil-sand produced water), ,, so it can serve as a pretreatment step prior to membrane separation, within the overall water treatment train . Integrating EC with membrane filtration can further improve the quality of the discharged water .…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Performance Restoration of Iron Electrodes by Polarity Reversal after Long-Term Surface Fouling in Wastewater Electrocoagulation

Jang,

Castillo,

Dutta

et al. 2024

ACS EST Water

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Iron electrocoagulation (Fe-EC) performance often declines with time, producing lower contaminant removal efficiencies and higher energy requirements due to formation of a fouling layer on the electrodes. Here, we investigate the formation of the fouling layer and the effectiveness of polarity reversal to restore the Fe-EC performance. A thin, porous iron oxide layer initially forms on the anode, thickening into a dense, over 150-μm thick crystalline layer after extended operation. This fouling layer restricts dissolution and diffusion of Fe ions into the bulk solution, thus increasing the anode potential required to maintain a desired electrical current and decreasing Faradaic efficiency. Polarity reversal applied when performance decline is observed effectively removes the fouling layer, thereby restoring Faradaic and contaminant removal efficiencies and decreasing energy consumption. Our findings suggest that gas generation at the cathode surface after polarity reversal causes removal of the fouling layer. This study enhances the current understanding of fouling-layer formation in Fe-EC and offers a practical approach, involving polarity reversal, to maintain electrode reactivity and optimal Fe-EC performance.

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