Evaluation of Nitrate Removal from Wastewater Using Electrochemical Method

Groundwater pollution by nitrate is a serious problem that has been widely observed worldwide. This type of pollution can be dangerous for human health and especially for children. Therefore, nitrate must be removed from contaminated underground. Electrochemical method has many advantages in comparison with reverse osmosis or ion exchange, such as lower cost, requires less space, less sludge production and requires fewer chemical materials. The aim of this study is to evaluate nitrate removal by electrochemical method. Carrying out this study; water samples contaminated with nitrate were prepared by adding suitable amount of NaNO3 in distilled water. Then samples were treated by a batch of electrochemical reactor in laboratory-scale. In this study, graphical rods were applied as electrodes. Nitrate concentration was determined by spectrophotometric method. The results showed that by using electrochemical method 15.33, 17.41, 19.48 and 21.58 % of nitrate ion could be removed within hydraulic retention times of 30, 60, 90 and 120 min, respectively. These results were obtained by using a voltage of 24 volts and electrode surface of 15.896 cm3. Our results elaborated that, electrochemical method is fully capable of removing nitrate ion from water. However, nitrate removal efficiency in this method is not efficient enough to apply in industrial scale.