Comparative study on the electrocatalytic activity of dissimilar electrode combinations for the treatment of textile effluent by electrocoagulation process and their subsequent reuse

The synthetic dyes which are largely used in the textile industries pollute the total ecosystem. They can be treated using different technologies but in order to avoid secondary pollution and to carry out an eco-friendly technique, an electrocoagulation process has been adopted. In this work, two sets of electrodes which act as the electrocatalysts for the process of electrocoagulation, with one set containing aluminium as an anode and the other with copper as anode has been used to contrast and compare the removal efficacies. The colour removal efficiency was observed as 98.42% for Al-Cu, and 95.12% for Cu-Al electrodes. The COD and BOD removal efficiency was found to be 89.74%, 86.1% for Al-Cu and 87.15%, 85.23% for Cu-Al electrodes. The cost for the treatment process was 3.31 US$/m3 and 0.22 US$/m3 for Al-Cu and Cu-Al electrodes respectively. The sludge was subjected to EDX, SEM, and XPS analysis which showed the formation of hydroxides and dissolution of an anode implying copper as the best anode material. The energy and electrode consumption, operating cost was minimum for copper than aluminium. Due to high COD and BOD removal, the treated water can be reused for agriculture and for fish growth.