Effluent treatment using electrochemically bleached seawater—oxidative degradation of pollutants

Use of seawater electrolytically enriched with hypochlorite and the in situ generation of hypochlorite on the high seas, stand a good chance for disinfection and decrease of bio and non-biodegradable organics in effluent before discharged into estuaries and deep oceans. Enriched seawater effectively decreased the biological oxygen demand measured over 5 days (BOD) and chemical oxygen demand (COD) levels of semi-treated wastewater. The oxidative degradation of Brilliant Blue, a triaryl industrial dye by hypochlorite and electrolytically enriched seawater are compared at pH 6.5. Both had similar magnitude second-order rate constants (21±1 M−1 s−1) and procedure is feasible. Increase in acid concentration enhanced the reaction rate. With 1:1 and 1:100 molar ratios of dye to hypochlorite, the COD=140 mg L−1 of 1.0×10−3 M dye reduced to 100 and 30 mg L−1 respectively.