A PRESENTATION ON ELECTROLYSIS OF EFFLUENT BY ALUMINIUM PLATE AS ANODE AND S.S.

PLATE AS CATHODE

Electrolysis uses electrical current to split water into hydrogen at the cathode (+) and oxygen at the anode (-) The theory of EC has been discussed by a number of authors, It is generally accepted that the EC process involves three successive stages:
i.

Formation of coagulants by electrolytic oxidation of the sacrificial electrode Destabilization of the contaminants, particulate suspension and breaking of emulsions

ii.

iii. Aggregation of destabilized phases to form the flocs

Michael Faraday, perhaps the greatest experimental scientist in history, enunciated his laws of electrolysis in 1833, and these laws have remained unchallenged ever since. They are basic to both the understanding and the practical use of electrolytic processes. They may be stated as follows: 1. The amount of chemical change produced by an electrical current is proportional to the quantity of electricity that passes. 2. The amounts of different substances liberated by a given quantity of electricity are inversely proportional to their chemical equivalent weights. These laws correctly predict that: 1. by measuring the quantity of electricity passed, one has a measure of the amount of chemical change that will thereby be produced; 2. knowing the chemical equivalent weight of a substance, one can predict the amount of that substance that will be liberated by a given quantity of electricity.

The electrochemical reaction occurring at the anode and involving metal Maluminium in the present case, is written as Al(s) Al (aq)3+ + 3e (Aluminium electrode dissolution)

Hydrogen evolution occurs at the cathode depending on pH. 2H2O(l) +2e H2(g) +2OH(aq) (Hydrogen evolution) 2H(aq)+ +2e H2(g) The generated Al(aq)3+ ions combine with water and hydroxyl ions to form corresponding hydroxides and/or polyhydroxides as follow: monomeric species such as Al(OH)2+, Al(OH)2+, and Al(OH)4 polymeric species such as Al2(OH)24+ and Al2(OH)5+, amorphous and less soluble species such as Al (OH)3 Al3+ +H2O Al(OH)2+ + H+ Al(OH)2+ + H2O Al(OH)2+ + H+ Al(OH)2+ + H2O Al(OH)30 + H+ Al(OH)30 + H2O Al(OH)4 + H+

Electrolysis proceeds in two phases: a reactive phase in which the removal efficiency increases regularly with time and the amount of dissolved Al and a stationary phase for which further energy consumption for solubilisation of aluminium anode is useless. Electrocoagulation involves dissolution of metal from the anode with simultaneous formation of hydroxyl ions and hydrogen gas occurring at the cathode. Electrocoagulation has been proposed since before the turn of the century with Vik et al. (1984) describing a treatment plant in London built in 1889 (for the treatment of sewage by mixing with seawater and electrolyzing). In 1909, in the United States, J.T. Harries (Vik et al., 1984) received a patent for wastewater treatment by electrolysis with sacrificial aluminium and iron anodes. Matteson et al. (1995) describe a device of the 1940s, the Electronic Coagulator which electrochemically dissolved aluminium (from the anode) into solution, reacting this with the hydroxyl ion (from the cathode) to form aluminium hydroxide. The hydroxide flocculates and coagulates the suspended solids purifying the water. A similar process was used in Britain in 1956 (Matteson et al., 1995) for which iron electrodes were used to treat river water.

There are a variety of ways in which species can interact in solution: 1. Migration to an oppositely charged electrode (electrophoresis) and aggregation due to charge neutralisation. 2. The cation or hydroxyl ion (OH-) forms a precipitate with the pollutant. 3. The metallic cation interacts with OH- to form a hydroxide, which has high adsorption properties thus bonding to the pollutant (bridge coagulation). 4. The hydroxides form larger lattice-like structures and sweeps through the water (sweep coagulation). 5. Oxidation of pollutants to less toxic species. 6. Removal by electroflotation and adhesion to bubbles.

The Third Annual Australian Environmental Engineering Research Event. 23-26 November Castlemaine, Victoria 1999, Peter Holt, Geoffrey Barton and Cynthia Mitchell, ELECTROCOAGULATION AS A WASTEWATER TREATMENT Advanced water recycling through electrochemical treatment of effluent from dissolved air flotation unit of food processing industry,Sukjoon Yoo and Jeffery S. Hsieh Q IWA Publishing 2010 Water Science & TechnologyWST | 61.1 | 2010 Department of Chemical Engineering, The University of Sydney, New South Wales, 2006. Do, J.-S., Chen, M.-L., (1994), Decolourization of dye-containing solutions by electrocoagulation, Journal of Applied Electrochemistry, 24; 8: 785-790. Novikova, S.P., Shkorbatova, T.L., et al., (1982), Purification of effluents from the production of synthetic detergents by electrocoagulation, Soviet Journal of Water Chemistry and Technology, 4;4:353-357. Bard, A. J. & Faulkner, L. R. 1980 Electrochemical MethodsFundamentals and Applications. John Wiley & Sons,New York.

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