Electrode Arrangement Influence on Nickel Removal Efficiency from Synthetic Wastewater Using Electrocoagulation Process

Electrode Arrangement Influence on Nickel Removal Efficiency from Synthetic Wastewater Using Electrocoagulation Process

Industerial and municipal wastewater contain high amounts of heavy metal ions, such as nickel. The heavy metals presence in all types of wastewater disrupts the wastewater treatment system and reduces its efficiency and stops bilogical activities in severe cases. Electrocoagulation (EC) method was used to remove nickel from synthetic wastewater by iron and aluminium sacrificial sheets in an electrochemical cell. The concentration of nickel before and after treatment was determined by AAS instrument. AAS results confirmed that the nickel concentration in the wastewater effectively decreases by EC batch reactor. The effect of electrodes type and distance between them on the removal efficiency has been investigated. The results showed that the nickel removal efficiency on the pair of iron electrodes is the best of all other possible cases used of iron and aluminum electrodes. Electrode distance is also known as the controlling parameter which affects the reactor size and energy consumption and can have a significant impact on the overall cost of treatment as well. The distance of 1 cm was obtaind as the optimum gap between anode and cathode electrodes.