Comparative study of electrode material (iron, aluminium and stainless steel) for treatment of textile industry wastewater

Electrocoagulation method with iron, aluminium and stainless steel electrodes is used, to treat the textile industry wastewater in batch reactor. The performance of electrocoagulation (EC) process was investigated for colour and chemical oxygen demand (COD) reduction, energy consumption and instantaneous current efficiency was also observed using these electrodes. The effects of the relevant key operating conditions such as voltage and electrolysis time were studied in order to evaluate the performance of electrodes. The result indicates that electrocoagulation is very efficient and was able to achieve colour removal (99.46%) at 14V in 80 min and COD removal (90.12%) in 80 min at a potential of 8V in the presence of iron electrode. The COD and Colour removal by aluminium and stainless steel electrodes were achieved at high voltages. The energy consumption was low in case of iron electrode when compared to aluminium and stainless steel electrode for the maximum COD removal. The effluent wastewater was clear but requires post treatment to meet direct discharge standards.