BAHIR DAR UNIVERSITY

COLLEGE OF SCIENCE POSTGRADUATE PROGRAM

DEPARTMENT OF CHEMISTRY

(ANALYTICAL STREAM)

MSc SEMINAR

REMOVAL OF DYES FROM TEXTILE INDUSTRY EFFLUENTS BY

ELECTROCOAGULATION PROCESSES USING ALUMINUM AND IRON
ELECTRODES

BY: MULUGETA DAWIT

ADVISOR: MEAREG AMARE (PhD)

FEBRUARY, 2020
BAHIR DAR, ETHIOPIA
Acknowledgment

I would like to express my sincere thanks and great gratitude to my advisor Doctor Meareg
Amare for his continuous, heartily help by giving advice, commitment and dedication to help my
seminar to end tirelessly.

i
 Table of contents
Table of contents......................................................................................................................ii
List of figures.................................................................................................................................iii
List of tables...................................................................................................................................iv
List of abbreviations.................................................................................................................v
1. INTRODUCTION....................................................................................................................1
2. ELECTROCOAGULATION (EC)..........................................................................................3
2.1. Principles of electrocoagulation........................................................................................3
2.2. Mechanisms of electrocoagulation process.......................................................................4
2.3. Electrode materials and reactions.....................................................................................5
3. APPLICATION OF ELECTROCOAGULATION PROCESS...............................................7
3.1. Removal of reactive black 5 dye (RB-5)..........................................................................7
3.2. Effect of various operating parameters.............................................................................8
3.2.1. Effect of pH...............................................................................................................8
3.2.2. Effect of current density (I).......................................................................................9
3.2.3. Initial dye concentration..........................................................................................10
3.2.4. Distance between electrodes....................................................................................11
3.2.5. Effect of EC time.....................................................................................................13
3.3. Removal of reactive green 19 dye (RG-19)....................................................................16
3.4. Effect of various operating parameters...........................................................................16
3.4.1. Effect of initial pH and voltage...............................................................................16
3.4.2. Effect of initial concentration of dye.......................................................................19
3.4.3. Effect of electrode distance.....................................................................................20
3.5. Removal of reactive blue 19 (RB-19).............................................................................22
3.5.1. Effect of supporting electrolyte concentration........................................................22
3.5.2. Effect of applied current density..............................................................................23
3.5.3. Effect of initial Reactive Blue dye concentration....................................................24
3.5.4. Effect of initial pH...................................................................................................25
3.5.5. UV -Visible absorbance changes in the degradation of reactive blue 19................26
4. CONCLUSION......................................................................................................................29
5. REFERENCES.......................................................................................................................30

ii
 List of figures
Figure 1: principle of an electrocoagulation cell with two electrodes.............................................4
Figure 2: Simplified experimental setup of an electrocoagulation cell........Error! Bookmark not
defined.
Figure 3: Chemical structure of black reactive 5 dye......................................................................9
Figure 4: Effect of pH on dye removal.........................................................................................10
Figure 5: Removal % with the current density..............................................................................12
Figure 6 : Removal % with initial concentration variation............................................................13
Figure 7: Distance between electrodes with removal %................................................................14
Figure 8: Distance between electrodes with energy consumption.................................................15
Figure 9: Time of treatment...........................................................................................................16
Figure 10: Energy consumption with time....................................................................................17
Figure 11: An electrocoagulation cell apparatus: (1) digital DC power apparatus; (2) magnetic
stirrer bar; (3) anode; (4) cathode (bipolar electrodes in parallel connection)..............................18
Figure 12: Effect of initial pH on removal efficiency of Reactive Green 19 (RG-19) dye
(Voltage = 10 v, C0 = 50 mg/L, d = 1 cm, KCl = 0.005 M, T = 22 ± 2 ºC)...................................19
Figure 13: Effect of initial pH on removal efficiency of Reactive Green 19 (RG-19) dye (Voltage
= 20 v, C0 = 50 mg/L, d = 1 cm, KCl = 0.005 M, T = 22 ± 2 ºC)..................................................19
Figure 14: Effect of initial pH on removal efficiency of Reactive Green 19 (RG-19) dye...........20
Figure 15: Effect of initial pH on removal efficiency of Reactive Green 19 (RG-19) dye (Voltage
= 40 v, C0 = 50 mg/L, d = 1 cm, KCl = 0.005 M, T = 22 ± 2 ºC)..................................................20
Figure 16: Effect of initial pH on removal efficiency of Reactive Green 19 (RG-19) dye (Voltage
= 50 v, C0 = 50 mg/L, d = 1 cm, KCl = 0.005 M, T = 22 ± 2 ºC)..................................................21
Figure 17: Effect of distance between electrodes on removal efficiency of Reactive Green 19
(RG-19) dye (Voltage = 50 v, C0 = 50 mg/L, KCl = 0.01 M, pH = 11, T = 22 ± 2 ºC)................23
Figure 18: Effect of distance between electrodes on energy consumption (Voltage = 50 v, C0 = 50
mg/L, KCl = 0.01 M, pH = 11, T = 22 ± 2 ºC)..............................................................................23
Figure 19: chemical structure of RB-19 dye..................................................................................25
Figure 20: Effect of supporting electrolyte concentration on color removal.................................27
Figure 21: Effect of applied current density on color removal......................................................28
Figure 22: Effect of dye concentration on color removal..............................................................29

iii
Figure 23: Effect of pH on color removal.....................................................................................30
Figure 24: UV-Visible spectrum of Reactive Blue 19 before and after electrocoagulation process
.......................................................................................................................................................31

List of tables
Table 1 : Effects of initial dye concentration on removal efficiency and energy consumption....19
Table 2: Comparison of electrocoagulation with other methods...................................................27

iv
 List of abbreviations

BOD Bio-chemical oxygen demand

COD Chemical oxygen demand
EC Electrocoagulation
RB-5 Reactive black 5 dye
RB-19 Reactive Blue 19 dye

Abstract

v
Various techniques such as physical, chemical, biological, advanced oxidation and
electrochemical are used for the treatment of industrial effluent. The commonly used
conventional biological treatment processes are time consuming, need large operational area
and are not effective for effluent containing toxic elements. Advanced oxidation techniques result
in high treatment cost and are generally used to obtain high purity grade water. The chemical
coagulation technique is slow and generates large amount of sludge. Electrocoagulation has
recently attracted attention as a potential technique for treating industrial effluent due to its
versatility and environmental compatibility. This technique uses direct current source between
metal electrodes immersed in the effluent, which causes the dissolution of electrode plates into
the effluent. The metal ions, at an appropriate pH, can form wide range of coagulated species
and metal hydroxides that destabilize and aggregate particles or precipitate and adsorb the
dissolved contaminants. Therefore, the objective of the present manuscript is to review the
potential of electrocoagulation for the treatment of industrial effluents, mainly removal of dyes
from textile effluent.

Keywords: Electrocoagulation; Iron; Aluminum; Electrode; Textile wastewater

vi
1. INTRODUCTION
One of the major challenges facing mankind today is to provide clean water to a vast majority of
the population around the world . Billions of liters of industrial wastewater are produced every
day. The pollution induced by dyestuff losses and discharge during dyeing and finishing
processes in the textile industry has been a serious environmental problem for years . Textile
industry is one of the water-intensive consumers in the world which imposes large amounts of
wastewater to the environment. The manufacturing involves wide range of chemical usage,
which is known for their hazardous nature as well as potential to contaminate the environment.
The effluent contains considerable quantities of various chemicals and dyes .

The textile industry wastewater varies extensively in terms of composition due to the regular
impurity in fibers and the chemicals used in different processes. Various types of dyes are
produced worldwide and are used in various industries, such as textile, cosmetic, paper, leather,
pharmaceutical and food industry. The dyes can be classified as acid, basic, direct, azoic colors,
sulphur, reactive and metal complex dyes. There are more than 100,000 commercially available
dyes with an estimated annual production of over 7*105 tons . 10-50% of these dyes are lost in
the effluent. The major pollutants in textile wastewater are especially the organic and inorganic
chemicals such as finishing agents, surfactants ,active substances, chlorine compounds, salts,
dyeing substances, total phosphate, dissolved solids, suspended solids and total solids .

Dyestuffs are organic compounds which are in solution or in suspension form to react with
objects surfaces in chemical or physico-chemical ways. These reactions then change the surface
structure of the objects. Colors in water bodies affect aquatic diversity by blocking the passage of
sunlight. Since many organic dyes are harmful to human beings, the removal of color from
process or waste effluents becomes environmentally important. Azo dyes with more than 50%
production of all dyes are known as the largest group among the synthetic organic dyes .

Reactive dyes are extensively used in textile industry, fundamentally due to the ability of their
reactive groups to bind to textile fibers by covalent bonds formation. Reactive azo dyes are
known as the most problematic substances in textile industry wastewaters due to their high water
solubility and low degradability . It is estimated that about 50% of them are released to the
effluents. Complex structure of colors makes them stable and resistant to biodegradation. So they

1
are considered threatening from the health point of view because of their carcinogenic and
mutagenic properties, allergies effects and skin problem-making .

Discharge wastewaters containing dyestuff prevents of light penetration to aqueous media like
lakes and rivers, reduces the amount of dissolved oxygen and increases chemical oxygen demand
in them, and thereby disrupts the aquatic life. In addition, colors can remain in the environment
for long periods of time due to their high thermal stability. Nowadays numerous methods have
been tested for treating colored effluents. UV/H2O2 , UV/O3 , Fenton, and Electro-Fenton are
some of mentioned ways that have been less applied as they require high cost, skilled operator,
adding salt, and excessive energy consumption. Hence they can be considered as proper options
for separating dyestuff from wastewater with heavily load of contaminants .

In recent years the electrocoagulation (EC) process has been investigated as an effective method
for the wastewater treatment. Since the ‘electron’ is the main reagent and does not require
addition of the reagents/chemicals, sludge generation is minimal compared to the other
processes. Electrocoagulation utilizes aluminum or iron anodes to produce aluminum or iron
hydroxide flocs by reaction at the anodes followed by hydrolysis. Electrocoagulation (EC) is a
promising technique for removal of pollutants from wastewater due to its simple, cheap to
operate, easily available equipment and environmental friendly .

2
2. ELECTROCOAGULATION (EC)
2.1. Principles of electrocoagulation
Electrocoagulation (EC) is a unique method for water and wastewater treatment that is based on
the electrochemical dissolution of sacrificial metal electrodes into soluble or insoluble species
that improves the coagulation, the adsorption or the precipitation of soluble or colloidal
pollutants with high removal efficiency. It is regarded as a potentially effective method for
treating many types of wastewater with high decolorization efficiency and relatively little sludge
formation .

Electrocoagulation process involves applying an electric current to sacrificial electrodes (mostly

iron and aluminum) inside a reactor tank where the current generates a coagulating agent and gas
bubbles. In EC, differences in electric potentials are used to generate coagulants which can
remove color, suspended and dissolved particles in wastewater. This technique is an indirect
electrochemical method which produces coagulant agents (Fe+3 or Al+3) from the electrode
material (Fe or Al) in hydroxide medium. These species, that is, Fe (OH) 3, can remove dissolved
pollutants by precipitation or by floatation. These complex compounds are attached to the
bubbles of H2 (gas) evolved at the cathode and transported to the top of solution. The process is
applied when removal of pollutant by chemical coagulation becomes difficult or impossible. EC
is an advanced economical water treatment process that has been shown to be effective in
removing suspended solids, heavy metals and breaking down emulsifiers .

Electrochemical cell for EC consists of two electrodes, the anode and the cathode, immersed in a
conducting solution or the electrolyte and connected together via an electrical circuit which
includes a current source and control device, as shown in Figure 1 .

3
 Figure 1: principle of an electrocoagulation cell with two electrodes
Electrocoagulation involves many chemical and physical phenomena that make use of
consumable electrodes to supply ions into the pollutant system. In EC the coagulating ions are
produced insitu and it involves the following successive stages:

 Anode dissolution
 Formation of OH ions and H2 at the cathode
 Electrolytic reactions at electrode surfaces
 Adsorption of coagulant on colloidal pollutants
 Removal of colloids by sedimentation or flotation

2.2. Mechanisms of electrocoagulation process

The chemical processes occurring in the cell are oxidation and reduction reactions, which take
place at the electrode/electrolyte interface. The electrode at which reduction occurs is referred as
the cathode, whereas the anode is the electrode at which oxidation processes occur. The anode,
also called the sacrificial electrode, corrodes to release active coagulant cations, usually
aluminum or iron, to the solution. Consequently, electrocoagulation introduces metal cations in
situ, rather than by external dosing. Simultaneously, electrolytic gases are generated, typically
hydrogen at the cathode. The current flow in the electrocoagulation cell is maintained by the

4
flow of electrons resulting from the driving force of the electrical source. The solution electrolyte
allows the current to flow by the motion of its ionic charged species.
In general, in an EC process the coagulating ions are produced “in situ” it involves successive
stages: formation of coagulants by electrolytic oxidation of sacrificial electrode, formation of
-
OH ions and H2 at the cathode, electrolytic reactions at the electrode surfaces, destabilization of
contaminants, particulate suspension and breaking of emulsions, aggregation of destabilized
phases to form flocs and removal of colloids by sedimentation or flotation .

2.3. Electrode materials and reactions

The selection of electrode material is important. The materials should cheap, readily available
and effective. Aluminum and iron electrodes have both been used successfully in EC systems.
Aluminum dissolves in all cases as Al (III) whereas there is some controversy as to whether iron
dissolves as Fe (II) or Fe (III). Most results indicate that iron dissolves as Fe (II) and is oxidized
in bulk solution to Fe (III) if there are oxidants, such as oxygen, present in sufficient
concentration and pH is alkaline. Fe (II) is a poor coagulant compared to Fe (III) due to higher
solubility of hydroxides and lower positive charge, which explains some poor results obtained
with iron electrodes, such as in the study of Bagga et al. .

Optimal material selection depends on the pollutants to be removed and the chemical properties
of the electrolyte. In general, aluminum seems to be superior compared to iron in most cases
when only the efficiency of the treatment is considered. However, it should be noted that
aluminum is more expensive than iron. Aluminum electrodes were most effective in removing
color of the wastewater, whereas iron electrodes removed COD and phenol from the wastewater
more effectively than aluminum electrodes. A combination of aluminum and iron electrodes
removed color, COD and phenol with high efficiency. Combination electrodes have been studied
for arsenic removal from groundwater. Iron electrodes and a combination of iron and aluminum
electrodes gave the highest arsenic removal efficiencies. Similar results were obtained for
copper, chromium and nickel removal from metal plating wastewater. Fe-Al pair has been most
effective in removing indium from water .

5
A simple electrocoagulation reactor is made up of one anode and one cathode (Figure 2). When a
potential is applied from an external power source, the anode material undergoes oxidation,
while the cathode will be subjected to reduction or reductive deposition of elemental metals .

The main plate electrodes that are

commonly used for electrocoagulation
process are iron and aluminum, since
these two materials have been
extensively used to clarify wastewater .
The type of coagulant produced was
determined according to the electrode

Figure 2: Simplified experimental setup of an electrocoagulation cell

materials used. This coagulant effects on the coagulation and the efficiency processes . The main
reactions take places at the metal electrodes are:

Iron Electrode Aluminum Electrode

Anode: Anode:

Cathode: Cathode:

Overall: Overall:

Or, Anode: In general:

Cathode: Anode:

Overall: Cathode∶

Overall∶

6
3. APPLICATION OF ELECTROCOAGULATION PROCESS
3.1. Removal of reactive black 5 dye (RB-5)
According to Abduljaleel study synthetic water samples were prepared by dissolving
stoichiometric quantities of reactive black 5 dye (Figure 3) . The pH of the prepared samples
varied between 4 and 8 by adding either NaOH or HCl solutions, while the conductivity was
controlled by adding sodium chloride salt (NaCl). Two aluminum electrodes with total area of
270 cm2 were used to apply the direct current supplied by a DC rectifier to the water being
treated .

The removal efficiency, % Removal efficiency of dye (RB-5), after EC treatment is calculated as
follows:

(1)

Where C0 is the initial concentration (mg/L) and C is the final dye concentration (mg/L). Electric
energy consumption was also calculated using the commonly used equation .

(2)

Where E is electric energy (kWh/m3), U is the cell voltage in volt (v), I is current in ampere (A),
V is the volume of solution (m3), and tEC is the duration of EC process (min) .

O
NaO
S
O O
O
S
O
O N N ONa
S

HO O

NH2

O O 7
O N S
O S N
S O ONa
Na O
O
O
 Figure 3 : Chemical structure of black reactive 5 dye

3.2. Effect of various operating parameters

3.2.1. Effect of pH
The effect of the pH on dye removal from water using aluminum electrodes by
electrocoagulation was studied using five different initial values (4, 5, 6, 7 and 8). This test
conducted for 25 minutes. The other operating factors were kept at 2 mA/cm 2 for current density,
distance between electrodes of 4 mm, and initial dye concentration at 15 mg/L. The removal
efficiency decreased from 90.1%, 89.1%, 86.2%, 83.4%, and 79.7% as the initial pH level
increased from 4, to 5, 6, 7, and 8 respectively. It is easy to observe that the efficiency decreasing
with the increment of the initial pH level (Figure 4). Therefore, initial pH of 4 has been chosen as
the optimum value .

Figure 4: Effect of pH on dye removal

3.2.2. Effect of current density (I)

Current density is very important parameter in electrocoagulation as it determines the coagulant
dosage rate, bubble production rate, size and growth of the flocs, which can affect the
efficiency of the electrocoagulation. With an increase in the current density, the anode
dissolution rate increases. This leads to an increase in the number of metal hydroxide flocs
resulting in the increase in pollutant removal efficiency. An increase in current density above the

8
optimum current density does not result in an increase in the pollutant removal efficiency as
sufficient number of metal hydroxide flocs are available for the sedimentation of the pollutant .

On the other side, increasing the current density will highly raise the cost of treatment, as it
would require more energy. According to Abduljaleel study, the effect of current density was
investigated at three different values (1, 2, and 3 mA/cm2). With fixing the pH value at 4, the test
conducted for 25 min with initial concentration of 15 mg/L. The results showed that the removal
efficiency increased when higher current density used. As the current density increased from 1 to
2, and 3 mA/cm2 respectively, the removal efficiency also increased from 83.2% to 90.1% and
96.1%). Despite the fact that the highest removal percentage was obtained at a current density of
3 mA/cm2, the favorable value of current density was 2 mA/cm 2 for economic reasons. This
current density will achieve the desired removal efficiency at relatively low power consumption.
The energy consumption analysis, according to Eq. (2), showed that there is a considerable
increase in energy consumption as the current density increased from 2 to 3 mA/cm 2, where it
increased from 2.205 to 6.39 kWh/m3.

Figure 5: Removal % with the current density

9
3.2.3. Initial dye concentration
One of the most important pathways of dye removal by electrocoagulation is adsorption of dye
molecules on metallic hydroxide flocs. The adsorption capacity of flocs is limited and specific
amount of flocs is able to adsorb specific amount of dye molecules. So, with increasing of dye
concentration, amount of produced flocs is insufficient to adsorb all dye molecules, therefore dye
and COD removal decreases. To study the effect of initial dye concentration on removal
efficiency, synthetic water samples with different initial concentrations (15, 25 and 35 mg/L)
were treated for 30 min at initial pH of 4, current density of 2 mA/cm 2, and electrodes distance
of 4 mm .

The obtained results, as shown in Figure (6), proved that the final dye removal is inversely
proportional to the initial concentration. The final removals were dropped from 91.5 to 86.87 and
80.25 % as the dye concentration increased from 15 to 25, and 35 mg/L respectively. The best
initial concentration, in this study, was therefore decided to be 15 mg/L . Adsorption on
aluminum is the major dye removal pathway. Hence, using constant current density and
treatment time, the same amount of aluminum cations will be produced. As a result, it would be
more likely with increasing the initial concentration, less adsorption area will be available to
catch the dye molecules .

Figure 6: Removal % with initial concentration variation

10
3.2.4. Distance between electrodes
The distance between electrodes has significant influenced on both the removal efficiency and
the energy consumption. The greater the inter electrode distance, the greater should be the
difference in applied potential, because the solution presents higher resistivity to the electrical
current. As the distance between the two electrodes decreased, the removal efficiency increased
due to the increment of the electrical conductivity reaching. According to the characteristics of
the effluent, the process efficiency can be improved by varying the distance between the
electrodes .

Increasing the electrode spacing will reduce the capital cost of treatment but may reduce the
treatment efficiency. However, with increasing the distance, the removal efficiency decreased. It
can be attributed that with increasing of distance between electrodes at constant voltage,
electrical resistance between electrodes increases and current passed through electrodes
decreases. The decreasing of current, lead to lower production of hydroxyl ions and dye removal
efficiency decreases .

The effect of electrodes distance on dye removal and energy consumption was investigated at
three different distances (4, 8 and 12 mm). With increasing the distance between electrodes, it
was found that the removal efficiency was highly decreased. Figure (7) shows that increasing the
distance between electrodes, at a constant current density, a gelatinous aluminum hydroxide film
will be formed on the anode surface, which will restrict the anodic oxidation, and consequently,
the removal efficiency will be slow down . To reduce the effect of this gelatinous film, the inter
electrode distance need to be reduced to the optimum value. Moreover, with increasing the
distance between electrodes, the strength of electrostatic attraction will be reduced that decreases
the flocs generation, which in turn decreases the dye removal .

11
 Figure 7: Distance between electrodes with removal %
At a constant current density (I) at 2 mA/cm 2, as the inter electrode distance increased, the
energy consumption was substantially increased. This could be attributed to the increase in the
electrical resistance and the applied voltage (to keep the current density constant). With the
exponential increment in the applied voltage and constant current density, the energy
consumption will highly grow, according to Eq. (2).

Figure (8) illustrates the relationship between the inter electrode distance and the energy
consumption. To accommodate both the removal efficiency and the energy consumption, the
optimum inter electrode distance is 4 mm [24].

12
 Figure 8: Distance between electrodes with energy consumption

3.2.5. Effect of EC time

It was found that the removal efficiency was increasing with the progress of treatment time.
From Figure 9, it is obvious, that with increasing the time of treatment, more flocs will generate
and then more pollutants will be removed. After 30 minutes of treatment, the change in the
removal rate was insignificant, 91.5% at 30 minutes and 92.8% at 50 minutes. Thus, 30 minutes
treatment time is enough to remove 15 mg/L of RB 5 dye using EC unite at a flow rate of 1 L/h .

13
 Figure 9: Time of treatment
Electrical energy consumption is a very important economical parameter in the
electrocoagulation process. It can be seen that the longer contact time of the system applied, the
weight of the electrode consumed in the simple EC process has been increased. The variation of
electrical energy consumption increased proportionally with contact time .

The time of treatment has also analyzed in terms of energy consumption. It is obvious that with
longer time of treatment, more energy will be exhausted to operate the treatment system. To
obtain a reasonable dye removal efficiency and energy consumption, it might be reasonable to
keep the treatment time at 30 minutes, that enough to achieve a 91.5% dye removal and 2.65
kWh/m3 energy consumption, figure (10) .

14
Figure 10: Energy consumption with time

15
3.3. Removal of reactive green 19 dye (RG-19)
The chemical structure of RG-19 is C40H23Cl2N15Na6O19S6 with a molecular weight of 1418.93
g/mol. According to Alizadeh et al. [30] the pH was adjusted using either 0.15 M NaOH or 0.1
M H2SO4. (Figure 11) illustrates the batch reactor apparatus used in the study. It consisted of 4
bipolar aluminum electrodes; 2 anodes and 2 cathodes of the same dimensions (10 × 15 cm)
placed 1 cm apart. A digital DC power apparatus (ADAK PS808 model, Iran) was used in all
experiments .

Figure 11: An electrocoagulation cell apparatus: (1) digital DC power apparatus; (2) magnetic
stirrer bar; (3) anode; (4) cathode (bipolar electrodes in parallel connection)

3.4. Effect of various operating parameters

3.4.1. Effect of initial pH and voltage
To achieve an optimum voltage and pH, dye removal percentage should be evaluated. Figures
12–16, the results show that an increase in voltage from 10 to 50v caused an increase in dye
removal efficiency at different pH values; maximum color removal was achieved at a pH of 11.
The highest removal percentages were found to be 33.49, 60.32, 72.43, 93.63, and 94.91% for
initial voltages of 10, 20, 30, 40, and 50 v, respectively, at a pH of 11. With an increase in
voltage, the amount of aluminum ion produced increased. Therefore, there was an increase in
floc production, and hence, an improvement in dye removal efficiency. In addition, the results
showed that the EC process with aluminum electrodes had greater effect on the pH of the
samples and caused an increase in final solution pH .

16
Figure 12: Effect of initial pH on removal efficiency of Reactive Green 19 (RG-19) dye (Voltage
= 10 v, C0 = 50 mg/L, d = 1 cm, KCl = 0.005 M, T = 22 ± 2 ºC)

Figure 13: Effect of initial pH on removal efficiency of Reactive Green 19 (RG-19) dye (Voltage
= 20 v, C0 = 50 mg/L, d = 1 cm, KCl = 0.005 M, T = 22 ± 2 ºC)

17
Figure 14: Effect of initial pH on removal efficiency of Reactive Green 19 (RG-19) dye
(Voltage = 30 v, C0 = 50 mg/L, d = 1 cm, KCl = 0.005 M, T = 22 ± 2 ºC)

Figure 15: Effect of initial pH on removal efficiency of Reactive Green 19 (RG-19) dye (Voltage
= 40 v, C0 = 50 mg/L, d = 1 cm, KCl = 0.005 M, T = 22 ± 2 ºC)

18
Figure 16: Effect of initial pH on removal efficiency of Reactive Green 19 (RG-19) dye (Voltage
= 50 v, C0 = 50 mg/L, d = 1 cm, KCl = 0.005 M, T = 22 ± 2 ºC)

3.4.2. Effect of initial concentration of dye

The effect of initial concentration of dye on the removal efficiency and energy consumption (E)
has been presented in table 1. The results showed that with increasing initial concentration of
dye, both energy consumption and dye removal increased. By using aluminum as sacrificial
anode, the removal efficiency of RG-19 dye reduced dramatically to less than 99.88%, when the
initial dye concentration increased from 25 to 150 mg/L. This is because of the decrease in
aluminum ions in high concentration. At concentrations of higher than 50 mg/L (99.27%) no
reduction was observed in color removal rate and it was relatively constant. However, increasing
initial dye concentration caused a steady increase in decolorization capacity. Moreover, up to the
concentration of 50 mg/L, the energy consumption was constant, but above this amount, it
increased. When initial concentration of the dye was raised from 25 to 150 mg/L at the
electrolysis time of 60 minutes, the efficiency decreased from 99.88 to 99.56%. On the contrary,
the energy consumption increased from 10.25 to 13.18 kWh/ (kg m3) .
Table 1 : Effects of initial dye concentration on removal efficiency and energy consumption

Concentration of dye
25 mg/L 50 mg/L 75 mg/L 100 mg/L 150 mg/L
Time RE E RE E RE E RE E RE E
3 3 3 3
(%) (kWh/m ) (%) (kWh/m ) (%) (kWh/m ) (%) (kWh/m ) (%) (kWh/m3

19
(min) )
10 24.21 1.04 15.40 2.31 36.39 2.64 46.11 2.80 63.45 4.62
20 48.60 2.83 49.14 3.24 53.71 3.84 65.46 4.11 63.75 5.36
30 68.85 4.38 68.69 4.40 80.08 4.46 81.42 5.29 66.89 7.33
40 92.10 5.92 84.91 6.17 98.48 7.33 94.71 6.53 91.77 9.75
50 95.68 7.38 90.44 7.93 99.51 9.06 99.49 9.94 99.50 11.08
60 99.88 10.25 91.66 10.27 99.62 12.41 99.57 11.87 99.56 13.18

Where, RE: Removal efficiency, E: Energy consumption

3.4.3. Effect of electrode distance

Figures 18 and 19 show the percentage of color removal against distance between the electrodes.
The effect of inter-electrode distance on removal efficiency was examined at 1-3 cm. The
efficiency decreased slightly, when the inter-electrode distance increased. The distance of 1 cm
was selected as the optimum point. Moreover, low energy was consumed at this distance . The
reason for this observation is thought to be the fact that when inter-electrode distance increases,
the produced ions move more slowly in the solution. Hence, the voltage and energy consumption
increase .

Figure 17: Effect of distance between electrodes on removal efficiency of Reactive Green 19
(RG-19) dye (Voltage = 50 v, C0 = 50 mg/L, KCl = 0.01 M, pH = 11, T = 22 ± 2 ºC)

20
Figure 18: Effect of distance between electrodes on energy consumption (Voltage = 50 v, C0 = 50
mg/L, KCl = 0.01 M, pH = 11, T = 22 ± 2 ºC).

3.5. Removal of reactive blue 19 (RB-19)

According to the study reported by Jayanthi et al. [32], stock solution of Reactive Blue 19
(Figure 19) was prepared by dissolving Reactive Blue 19 in distilled water from which working
standard solutions in the concentration range 50 to 400 mg/L in a supporting electrolyte were
prepared. The solution pH was adjusted by 0.1 N of H2SO4 or NaOH .

O
S O Na
O
O
O
S
O
O
S O Na
O
N NH2
H
O O

Figure 19: Chemical structure of RB-19 dye

21
The electrochemical cell was separated into two compartments with commercially available iron
electrodes as anode and cathode, placed vertically and parallel to each other. The dimension of
the electrode was 4 cm × 8 cm. The thickness of the iron electrode was 0.8 cm. The distance
between two electrodes was maintained as 5 cm to minimize the ohmic losses. The anode and
cathode compartments were connected separately by a regulated DC power supply.

Experiments were carried out at a laboratory scale, in cell equipped with two iron electrodes
(both anode and cathode). A potentiostat is used to apply the desired potential. The cathode and
anode were connected to the respective terminals of the DC rectifier and electric power was
supplied by a stabilized power source equipped with digital ammeter and voltmeter. The treated
dye sample was centrifuged at 5000 rpm for 15 minutes and the supernatant liquid was taken for
the analysis. The color removal is measured using spectrophotometer. Apparent color of samples
is determined by measuring the absorbance at 594 nm .

3.5.1. Effect of supporting electrolyte concentration

The effect of supporting electrolyte concentration is essential parameter on color removal of
Reactive Blue 19. Where, there are four different electrolyte concentrations (0.025, 0.05, 0.075
and 0.1 M of NaCl ) were considered at the applied current density of 3.75 mA/cm 2 and at initial
pH 7, RB 19 concentration was 100 mg/L at the stirring speed of 250 rpm. As can be seen in
Figure 23, increasing the supporting electrolyte concentration resulted in increasing color
removal efficiency and reduction of cell voltage that caused a decrease in electrical energy
consumption. After 30 minutes of electrolysis, when the concentration of supporting electrolyte
is increased from 0.025 to 0.1 M NaCl, the removal efficiency improved significantly from 93.5,
94.81, 96.41 and 98.72% respectively. This was due to Cl - anions destroying the passivation
layer and catalyzing the dissolution of electrode material. Increase in NaCl concentration leads to
an increase in pollutant removal efficiency. Another benefit of increasing electrolyte
concentration is increasing the electrical conductivity of the solution which allows more current
passing through the circuit. Therefore the color removal was high in 0.075 M shows 96.41%
removal among the four different concentrations. This concentration was taken as optimal
condition for further steps have been carried out .

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 Figure 20: Effect of supporting electrolyte concentration on color removal

3.5.2. Effect of applied current density

Another experimental study was carried out to determine the effects of applied current density on
color removal. The current density play a major role in the activation of electrocoagulation
processes and it was demonstrated. According to Jayanthi et al study 5, 10, 15, 20 and 25 v
potentials were applied corresponding to 0.9, 1.87, 2.81, 3.75, 4.68 mA/cm 2 at initial pH of 7,
supporting electrolyte concentration of 0.075 M and initial dye concentration was 100 mg/L at
the stirring speed of 250 rpm. The treatment efficiency was increased with increasing current
density. The results are shown in Figure 21. The removal efficiency increased from 89.6 to
97.41%. The highest removal efficiency was reached at 3.7 mA/cm 2. Therefore, it is considered
as an optimal current density for this study .

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 Figure 21: Effect of applied current density on color removal

3.5.3. Effect of initial Reactive Blue dye concentration

Investigation of the dye concentration was conducted under certain conditions (pH, stirring
speed, current density and electrolyte concentration). From this condition, the rate of removal of
color was compared with raw solution, after 30 minutes of electrocoagulation process the
removal efficiency was 86, 96.25, 84.34, 86.24, 74 and 47.98% at the initial concentration of 50,
100, 150, 200, 300 and 400 mg/L respectively at following optimized parameters such as
constant current density of 3.75 mA/cm2, pH 7 and the supporting electrolyte concentration
0.075 M of NaCl with the stirring speed of 250 rpm. The results are shown in Figure 25 .

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 Figure 22: Effect of dye concentration on color removal

3.5.4. Effect of initial pH

According to Jayanthi et al study, the effect of pH on color removal was investigated at pH 3.0,
5.0, 7.0, and 9.0 under the optimized conditions. The maximum removal efficiency was obtained
at 98.72% at pH 7.0, the effect of pH on color removal illustrated in Figure 23. In this condition
pH of the solution does not change during all stages, because the electrocoagulation exhibits
some pH buffering capacity, especially in alkaline medium . According to the results, with
increase in the dye concentration, percentage of color removal decreases. When the pH is less
than 6, Fe(OH)3 is insoluble form and when the pH is greater than 9, Fe(OH) 3 is soluble form.
Hence it proves that Fe(OH)3 has the major role in the removal of color. Therefore the pH was
maintained between 6 and 8 for an efficient color removal .

25
 Figure 23: Effect of pH on color removal

3.5.5. UV -Visible absorbance changes in the degradation of reactive blue 19

The UV- Visible absorbance of initial and final electrolysis is presented in Figure 24. In visible
region absorbance peak at 594 nm was due to Reactive Blue 19. It represented that the peak
disappears gradually during electrocoagulation process with increasing treatment time and high
removal efficiency was achieved at 60 min of electrolysis at 3.7 mA/cm 2 of applied current
density. It can be concluded that when electrochemical treatment was applied, Reactive Blue 19
degraded completely by decrease in the absorbance peak of pure dye .

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Figure 24: UV-Visible spectrum of Reactive Blue 19 before and after electrocoagulation process

Table 2: Comparison of electrocoagulation with other methods

Effluent Removal Result (%) References

parameter
Electroplating Cr(III),  EC: 100 for both
Cr(VI) Cr(III) and Cr(VI)
 Coagulation(Ferric
chloride):Cr(III)
(52.6),Cr(VI) (25.8)
Textile Color  EC:97
 Coagulation (Alum):
94
Tannery Turbidity,  EC: Turbidity (94.2),
COD, Cr (VI) COD (25), Cr(VI)
(24.6)
 EC + Adsorption:
Turbidity (96.1), COD
(92), Cr(VI) (75
 Adsorption: Turbidity
(93.3), COD (50),
Cr(VI) (77)
Synthetic dye Reactive blue  EC: 44
solution 19  EC +Ozonation: 96

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Synthetic dye Reactive  EC: 83
solution black 5  EC +Ozonation: 94
Synthetic dye Disperse,  EC + Fenton
solution reactive dyes oxidation: 99
 Fenton oxidation: 85

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4. CONCLUSION
Electrocoagulation is a treatment process that is capable of being an effective treatment process
as conventional methods such as chemical coagulation. Having observed trends over the last
three years, it has been noted that electrocoagulation is capable of having high removal
efficiencies of color, chemical oxygen demand (COD), biochemical oxygen demand (BOD), and
achieving a more efficient treatment processes quicker than traditional coagulation and
inexpensive than other methods of treatment such as ultraviolet (UV) and ozone. In these
experiment dyes are removed by this method. Based on the results of all experiments, EC process
by aluminum and iron electrodes is an efficient and suitable method for reactive dye removal
from textile wastewater. Unlike biological treatment which requires specific conditions, therefore
limiting the ability to treat many wastewaters with high toxicity, xenobiotic compounds, and pH,
electrocoagulation can be used to treat multifaceted wastewaters, including industrial,
agricultural, and domestic. Continual research using this technology will not only improve its
efficiency, but new modeling techniques can be used to predict many factors and develop
equations that will predict the effectiveness of treatment.

29
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