Int. J. Electrochem. Sci.

, 10 (2015) 3746 - 3756

International Journal of
ELECTROCHEMICAL
SCIENCE
www.electrochemsci.org

Thickening of Biological Sludge by Electro-Coagulation-

Flotation Process

Ahmad Reza Yazdanbakhsh1, Morteza Kashefiasl2, Hosein Zareh2,Ehsan Agaiani1, Mahdieh Sardar1
Amir Sheikhmohammadi1,*
1
Department of Environmental Health Engineering, School of public health, Shahid Beheshti
university of medical sciences, Tehran, Iran
2
Department of Environmental Engineering, Faculty of Environment and Energy, Islamic Azad
university, Tehran, Iran.
*
E-mail: amir.sheikh123@yahoo.com

Received: 15 October 2014 / Accepted: 4 March 2015 / Published: 23 March 2015

The present study is to investigate the thickening of hospital wastewater biological sludge by the
Electro-Coagulation-Flotation (ECF) process. The electrochemical thickening of biological sludge has
been studied by batch electrolysis experiments under different conditions. The various parameters like
effect of pH (2-11), current density (0.5-3 mA cm-2), and reaction time (2 to 60 min) on increase of
sludge suspended solids concentration and also the removal efficiencies of Chemical Oxygen Demand
(COD) and turbidity from the biological sludge were studied. The results indicated that the maximum
COD and turbidity removals were achieved in acidic pH level and electrolysis time of 30 minutes.
With increasing current density from 0.5 to 3 mA cm-2 at the optimum conditions of operation, the
removal efficiencies of COD and turbidity reached from 65.1 to 75.6% and 56 to 96.4% respectively
during the ECF. In addition, in the above-mentioned conditions, suspended solids concentration
increased to 2.1 percent. Mean energy consumption and current efficiency were figured at about 0.03
kWh m-3 and 200%, respectively.

Keywords: Biological sludge; Electro-Coagulation-Flotation process; COD; Suspended solids

concentration; Turbidity

1. INTRODUCTION

Activated sludge, is also called biological sludge, is produced by secondary treatment processes
with suspended growth. Biological sludge has light brown color and suspended solids concentration of
0.4 to 1.5%. The density of primary sludge is 1gr cm-3. Dewatering secondary sludge, because of
biological flocs in secondary sludge is more difficult than primary sludge. Thickening of the activated
Int. J. Electrochem. Sci., Vol. 10, 2015 3747

sludge is most important process in wastewater treatment due to the high volume and low suspended
solids concentration of the biological sludge. Thickening is a procedure used to decrease of sludge
volume and increase of its solids concentration by removing a portion of the liquid fraction. Sludge
pumping condensed is easily possible. The important purpose of thickening of sludge and decrease of
its volume is included increase the efficiency and decrease of costs related to sludge processing. [1].
Thickening is generally accomplished by methods including: gravity (co-settling in clarifier), gravity
(thickening in separate tank), dissolved air flotation, solid-bowl centrifuge, gravity-belt thickener and
rotary-drum thickener. These methods have disadvantages that are included: occasional use can be
odorous, the high operating cost, poor suspended solids concentration, high energy required and high
area required. Recently the applications of the ECF process as electrochemical method to remove a
large number of pollutants has reported [2-5]. ECF is a coagulation process in which coagulant agent is
produced with dissolution of a sacrificial anode using the current between the two electrodes, the
cathode and anode. The suitable electrodes in ECF process for the treatment of pollutants are
aluminum and iron [6-9]. In this method, metal hydroxide is generated by chemical reactions created
by electrical forces due to electrical current between electrodes. The metal hydroxides act as coagulant
/ flocculant for removal of undesirable contaminants either by chemical reaction and precipitation or
by causing colloidal materials to coalesce [10-13]. The ECF process has many advantages, that make it
is suitable for the treatment of various pollutants. These advantages including: requires small area and
simple equipment, high capability to remove a variety of pollutants such as (azo and reactive dyes,
phosphate, pulp wastewater, zinc, nitrate and ect), easy operation, low sludge production and no need
for chemicals [14- 18]. Based on our review, there is no research concerning the thickening biological
sludge using ECF. Therefore, in this work, the possibility of thickening of biological sludge, reduction
of COD and turbidity of biological sludge by ECF investigated and the process examined under
different values of current density, pH and time, in order to determine optimum operating conditions.
In addition, the amount of energy consumed in the process was determined.

2. EXPERIMENTAL SECTION

2.1. Biological sludge sample

Table 1. The basic characteristics of sludge biological samples from hospital wastewater treatment
plant

Parameter Unit Value

Color - Light brown
pH - 7.0
TSS (mg/L) 12750
Turbidity of supernatant effluent after settling (NTU) 175
30min
Soluble COD (mg/L) 780
Total COD (mg/L) 8600
Electrical Conductivity (ms/cm) 3.02
Volatile Total Solids (mg/L) 12250
Int. J. Electrochem. Sci., Vol. 10, 2015 3748

In this study, samples collected from HAFTHEHTIR hospital wastewater treatment plant
located in Tehran, Iran. Polyethylene containers used to collect samples of the sludge. Samples were
stored at 4 ° C before use. Sludge samples analyzed for their basic characteristics. Table.1 summarizes
the characteristics of the produced sludge. The experiments performed at room temperature.

2.2. ECF reactor setup and procedure

The ECF experiments carried out in a cylindrical glasses cell with 2000 ml useful volume,
which were 24 cm in height and 8 cm in internal diameter. Reactor equipped with six blades made of
aluminum that installed in monopollar parallel, a DC power supply, a magnetic stirrer using a constant
speed of 400 rpm, and required accessories. The dimensions of electrodes were (0.2 ×10 ×10 cm) in
thickness, length and width, which placed in parallel with each other and distance between electrodes
was 1 cm. Electrode weights were recorded after each test. The batch experimental setup is
schematically shown in Fig. 1. In every stage of the experiment 2000 ml biological sludge poured in
the reactor, turn on DC power and ECF process with special current density (0.5-3 mA cm-2) was
down. After the elapse of time (2 - 60 min) turn off DC power and sampling 50 ml sludge of surface
reactor to determine total suspended solids and total volatile suspended solids. Also measured pH,
turbidity and COD effluent samples after 30 minutes settling, were taken of under floating sludge (the
sludge was isolated using Whatman filter paper with pore size 11 μm). To eliminate the influence of
mass transport rate of pollutants to the electrodes (this causes an increase of 50% in the treatment time
and power requirements), high mixing was carried out by a magnetic stirrer. The aluminum electrodes
were polished after each experiment using grinding papers, and then were washed with deionized
water and soap water.

Figure 1. A schematic diagram of the electrochemical reactor

Int. J. Electrochem. Sci., Vol. 10, 2015 3749

2.3. Analysis

The sludge and liquid under floating sludge samples were analyzed for color, pH, TSS,
turbidity, COD, EC and volatile total solids, both before and after ECF. The performance of ECF in
thickening of biological sludge was evaluated in terms of the suspended solids concentration
percentage. For monitoring of the solution pH and temperature used the ultrameter II ( Myron L
Company) in the electrolysis. The spectrophotometer (DR 5000) used for measuring of COD index.
The electrical conductivity and turbidity were determined using Hack instruments. The concentration
of soluble electrode materials, sludge and liquid under floating sludge analysis were measured
according to Standard Methods [19].

3. RESULTS AND DISCUSION

Initial experiments showed that sludge characteristics are included, light brown in color,
relatively high total chemical oxygen demand, pH neutral and suspended solids 1.3 percentage.
According to the results by taking the index of COD, pollution load of sludge wastewater treatment
plant is 20 times rather than municipal wastewater (Table 1). The conditions and runs relating to the
ECF experiments are mentioned in Table 2.

Table 2. The conditions and runs relating to the ECF experiments

Run Operation Experiment Operational conditions

mode
Material pH Current density Reaction time
(anode- (mA cm-2) (min)
cathode)
1 Batch Effect of pH Al-Al 2-11 3 30
2 Batch Effect of current Al-Al 6 0.5-3 30
density
3 Batch Effect of Al-Al 6 0.5-3 2-60
reaction time

3.1. Factors affecting in efficiency of ECF process

3.1.1. Effect of initial pH

The pH has a significant role in the performance of ECF process. To explain this effect, pH was
altered within a range of 2 to 11 and optimum value of pH was determined. Effect of initial pH on ECF
process in the removal of COD and turbidity (Fig. 2a) and increase of suspended solids (Fig. 2b) is
shown in Fig. 2. As seen in Fig. 2, the removal rates sharply increased from 50.6% to 79% for COD
and from 65 to 94% for turbidity when the pH was increased from 2 to 5. Also suspended solids
Int. J. Electrochem. Sci., Vol. 10, 2015 3750

concentration increased to 2.1% after the reaction time 30 min in pH 6.0 with 3 mA current. The COD
and turbidity removal percentage and suspended solids concentration percentage remained constant for
a pH "between" 6 to 9 and increasing the pH to 12 led to a reduction in removal efficiency (P˂0.05).
These results are consistent with results obtained by other researchers [20-22]. The reaction occurring
in the ECF cell with the Al electrode can be written as follows: in acidic conditions, the oxidation of
anode led to the release of Al3+ into the solution, as shown in Eq. (1). Due to the presence of oxygen,
Al3+ reacts with hydroxide ions to produce Al (OH) 3 according to Eq. (2). In the cathode, H+ is
reduced to hydrogen gas Eq. (3). The overall reaction in acidic condition can be written as Eq. (4).

Acidic condition:

Anode:
Al(s) → Al3+ (aq)+3e− (1)
2Al3+(aq)+4H2O(l)+O2(aq)→2Al(OH)3(s)+2H+(aq) (2)

Cathode:
2H+ (aq) + 2e− → H2(g) (3)

Overall:
2Al(s) + 4H2O(l) + O2(aq) → 2Al(OH)3(s) + 2H2(g) (4)

In alkaline condition, the anode oxidized, and Al3+ formed in the water can in absence of
oxygen, reacts with hydroxide ions which results in produce gelatinous hydroxide precipitates, as
shown in Eqs. (5) and (6). The hydrolysis of water molecules at the cathode (according to Eq. (7)), leds
to generating hydrogen gas and hydroxyl ion. The overall reaction in alkaline condition can be written
as Eq. (8) [23, 24].

Alkaline condition:

Anode:
Al(s) → Al3+ (aq) + 3e− (5)
Al3+ (aq) + 3OH− (aq) → Al(OH)3(s) (6)

Cathode:
2H2O(l) + 2e− → H2(g) + 2OH− (aq) (7)

Overall:
2Al(s) + 3H2O(l) → Al(OH)3(s) + 1.5H2(g) (8)

With regard to the mechanisms described above, the predominant form of aluminum at pHs
between 5 and 9, is the Al (OH)3 gelatinous precipitate. Therefore, TSS, COD and turbidity have likely
Int. J. Electrochem. Sci., Vol. 10, 2015 3751

been removed from the sludge through complex with the active sites present on Al (OH)3 gelatinous
precipitate and adsorption onto the aluminum hydroxide flocs by Van der Waals forces. Decreasing
COD, turbidity removals from liquid and increasing of suspended solids concentration from sludge at
pHs below 5 or above 9 can be attributed to increasing solubility of Al3+ at these pHs which this result
leads to reduced formation of aluminum hydroxide [25]. Removal of COD and turbidity and
thickening of sludge at natural pH can be beneficial from both engineering and economic points of
view because of both simple and cost effective.

(a) (b)

Figure 2. The effect of initial pH (2–11) on the removal of COD and turbidity (a) suspended solids
concentration (b)in the ECF process

3.1.2. Effect of current density

In the ECF process flocs size, production rate of bubbles and coagulant dosage depends on the
current density in the reactor. So the current density is very important in the process of
electrochemical. According to Faraday’s law (Eq. 9), with increasing current density and electrolysis
time, the dissolution of the anode increases, this increases the release of Al3+ from anode:

(9)

Where CAl, Z, F, V, and Mw are the theoretical concentration of Al3+ (g m-3), the chemical
equivalence, Faraday’s constant (96,487 C/mol), volume of reactor (m3), and molecular weight of
aluminum (g mol-1), respectively. To investigate the effect of current density on ECF process,
experiments conducted by varying the current density from 0.5 to 3 mA cm-2, at pH 6.0. The results of
the influence of the current density on the COD and turbidity removals (Fig. 3a) and suspended solids
concentration (Fig. 3b) are presented in (Fig. 3). The removal rates sharply increased from 50.6% to
Int. J. Electrochem. Sci., Vol. 10, 2015 3752

79% for COD and from 65 to 94% for turbidity when the pH was increased from 2 to 5. Also
suspended solids concentration increased to 2.1% after the reaction time 30 min in pH 5.0 with 3 mA
current. Fig. 3 shows effect of current density on ECF process efficiency. The ECF produced a
considerable COD, turbidity removals of 70 and 78% respectively at the low current density of 0.5 mA
cm-2. Also suspended solids concentration reached 1.4% after the reaction time 30 min in pH 6.0 and
0.5 mA current. It observed removal efficiencies 80.45 and 94.51% for COD and turbidity
respectively, as current density reached to 3 mA cm−2. In applied current density 3 mA cm−2,
suspended solids concentration increased to 2.1%. The improvement in COD and turbidity removals
and increasing concentration percentage of solids due to current density applied in the ECF cell can be
related to:

1-The extent of anodic dissolution of aluminum increases, so this leads to an increase in the
production of metal hydroxides based on the mechanisms given in Eqs. (6) and (10).

Al(OH)3(s) + pollutant →( Al(OH)3 - pollutant) floc (10)

2- Decrease of bubble size and increase of bubble generation that can increase the removal
efficiency of pollutants by H2 floatation.

3- Increase of coagulant generation with increasing of the current density that it is expressed by
measuring the loss in anode (Al) weight as a function of the applied current density at a given reaction
time ( Fig. 4).

Figure 3. The effect of current density (0.5-3mA/cm2) on the removal of COD and turbidity (a) and
suspended solids concentration (b) in the ECF process
Int. J. Electrochem. Sci., Vol. 10, 2015 3753

Current density (mA/cm2)

Figure 4. Suspended solids concentration and anode (Fe) weight loss as a function of current densities
applied in the ECF

From the results Fig. 4, it is found that the anode weight loss increases with increasing current
density between the electrodes. This finding is in agreement with most other researchers [e.g., 11, 22,
23, 26- 29].The theoretical amount of loss in anode (Al) weight was calculated by Eq. (11).

Δmtheo = (11)

Where M is the molar mass of the aluminum, (g mol−1), tEC the electrolysis time (s), n the
number of electron moles and F is the Faraday constant (F=96487C mol−1).

3.1.3. Influence of electrolysis time

The influence of current density between 0.5 and 3 mA cm-2 on suspended solids concentration
by ECF versus reaction time was investigated. The results are depicted in Fig. 5. The experiment
condition was accordance to Table 2. As mentioned above, with increasing current density and
electrolysis time, the dissolution of the anode increases, this increases the release of Al3+ from anode
(Eq. (9)). Therefore as presented Fig. 5, solids concentration increase with increasing electrolysis time
and current density. The effect of electrolysis time was more pronounced when the reaction time was
elevated from 5 to 30 min, as suspended solids concentration increased from 0.5 to 2.2% at current
density of 3 mA cm-2 respectively. Trends in this study were consistent with those obtained by some
researchers [30, 31].
Int. J. Electrochem. Sci., Vol. 10, 2015 3754

Figure 5. Effect of reaction time on suspended solids concentration in the ECF process (current
density=0.5-3 mA cm−2; Al-Al electrode; pH= 6.0; reaction time = 5-60 min).

3.2. Electric energy consumption, Current efficiency and Specific electrical energy consumption

The current efficiency and electrical energy consumption are important economical parameters
in ECF process that the major operating cost of electrochemical process is associated with them. The
current efficiency (ϕ), electrical energy consumption (E) and specific electrical energy consumption
(SEEC) of ECF process were calculated by Eqs. (12) to (14) respectively.
φ= (12)

E = UItEC (13)

SEEC = (14)

Where U is the cell voltage in volt (V), I the current density (A), tEC is the time of EC process
in per hour, n the number of electron moles and M is the molar mass of the Al, (g mol−1) [32]. The
calculated values are shown in Table 3.

Table 3. Characteristics’ parameters calculated for ECF process in optimized condition

Sludge E (kWh(kg ϕ (%) SEEC

sludge)−1) (kWh(kgAl)−1)
Suspended solids 0.03 200 0.2
concentration
Int. J. Electrochem. Sci., Vol. 10, 2015 3755

4. CONCLUSIONS
The ECF process was investigated on the treatment and thickening of biological sludge. The
effects of operational parameters such as pH, current density and electrolysis time on removal
efficiencies of COD and turbidity and suspended solids concentration were investigated. The COD and
turbidity removal efficiencies and suspended solids concentration that were achieved using ECF
process were 75.6%, 96.4% and 2.1% after 30 min.The aluminum hydroxide generated in the cell can
be decreased the suspended solids concentration present in the biological sludge. The optimal
conditions for the process were determined to be [current density] = 3 mA cm−2, [electrolysis time]=
30 min, [mean energy consumption] = 0.03 kWh (kg sludge)−1, [current efficiency]= 200%, [specific
electrical energy consumption] = 0.2 (kWh(kg Al)−1) and [pH] = 6.0. Increase of approximately 2
percent of suspended solids (21000mg higher than of raw biological sludge) and conveying suspended
solids of biological sludge equal to concentration of primary sludge can promise efficiency of this
process for thickening biological sludge by ECF process.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The authors express their gratitude to Shahid Beheshti unhversity for providing technical and financial
supports.

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