Application of Electrochemical Disinfection Process Using Aluminum Electrodes for Efficient Removal of Coliforms from Wastewater

Document Type : Original Research Paper

Authors

1 Department of Environmental Engineering, Aras International Campos, Jolfa, Iran

2 Graduate Faculty of Environment, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran

Abstract

In this work, it was attempted to evaluate and demonstrate disinfection effectiveness of an electrochemical process to entirely remove coliform from wastewater effluent following secondary treatment. For the tests, an experimental bench-scale batch electrochemical cell was constructed, and aluminum electrodes were employed in the electro-disinfection reactor. In the electric disinfection phase, wastewater samples were put in the reactor/disinfector and a direct current (DC) was applied to it. According to findings, a significant decrease occurred in the total number of coliforms in the treated wastewater, and a high improvement occurred in the effluent properties. At a contact time of 15 min and a current density of 5.5 mA/cm2, led to a bacterial killing effectiveness of 97.7% or above. As the current density and contact time increased, a general increase occurred in the bacterial killing efficiency, and the effect of the two above-mentioned factors was much greater than the effect of salinity. Moreover, according to the experimental data, the removal efficiency of chemical oxygen demand (COD) and total suspended solids (TSS) by the aluminum electrodes were 78.50% and 99.93%, respectively. The findings indicate the applicability of the proposed electrochemical treatment to wastewater effluent. Nevertheless, to be able to apply this system at an industrial scale in the future, it is necessary to conduct more research into the optimum operation conditions and make an in-depth comparison of energy consumptions between the electrochemical treatment and the conventional approaches.

Keywords

Main Subjects


APHA (2005). Standard Methods for the Examination of Water and Wastewater. American Water Works Association (AWWA) and Water Pollution Control Federation (WPCF), 18th ed. American Public Health Association (APHA), Washington DC.
Bakheet, B., Prodanovic, V., Deletic, A., & McCarthy, D. (2020). Effective treatment of greywater via green wall biofiltration and electrochemical disinfection. Water Res. 185, 116228.
Devlin, T.R., Kowalski, M.S., Pagaduan, E., Zhang, X., Wei, V. & Oleszkiewicz, J.A. (2019). Electrocoagulation of wastewater using aluminum, iron, and magnesium electrodes. J. Hazard. Mater. 368, 862-868.
Domga, R., Noumi, G.B. & Tchatchueng, J.B. (2017). Study of some electrolysis parameters for chlorine and hydrogen production using a new membrane electrolyzer. Int. J. Chem. Anal. Sci. 2(1), 1-8.
Du, Y., Lv, X.T., Wu, Q.Y., Zhang, D.Y., Zhou, Y.T., Peng, L. & Hu, H.Y. (2017). Formation and control of disinfection byproducts and toxicity during reclaimed water chlorination: a review. J. Environ. Sci. 58, 51-63.
Fu, W., Wang, X., Zheng, J., Liu, M., & Wang, Z. (2019). Antifouling performance and mechanisms in an electrochemical ceramic membrane reactor for wastewater treatment. J. Membr. Sci. 570, 355-361.
Ganiyu, S. O., Martínez-Huitle, C. A., & Oturan, M.A. (2021). Electrochemical advanced oxidation processes for wastewater treatment: Advances in formation and detection of reactive species and mechanisms. Curr. Opin. Electrochem. 27, 100678.
Ghernaout, D., Elboughdiri, N., & Ghareba, S. (2020). Fenton technology for wastewater treatment: dares and trends. Open Access Lib. J., 7(1), 1-26.
Gil, M. I., López-Gálvez, F., Andújar, S., Moreno, M., & Allende, A. (2019). Disinfection by-products generated by sodium hypochlorite and electrochemical disinfection in different process wash water and fresh-cut products and their reduction by activated carbon. Food Control, 100, 46-52.
HACH (1999). DR/2010 spectrophotometer instrument manual. HACH company, Colorado, U.S.A.
Hadi, M., Mesdaghinia, A., Yunesian, M., Nasseri, S., Nodehi, R.N., Smeets, P.W., Schijven, J., Tashauoei, H. & Jalilzadeh, E. (2019). Optimizing the performance of conventional water treatment system using quantitative microbial risk assessment, Tehran, Iran. Water rRes. 162, 394-408.
Hand, S., & Cusick, R. D. (2021). Electrochemical disinfection in water and wastewater treatment: identifying impacts of water quality and operating conditions on performance. Environ. Sci. Technol. 55(6), 3470-3482.
Hashim, K.S., Kot, P., Zubaidi, S.L., Alwash, R., Al Khaddar, R., Shaw, A., Al-Jumeily, D. & Aljefery, M.H. (2020). Energy efficient electrocoagulation using baffle-plates electrodes for efficient Escherichia Coli removal from Wastewater. J. Water Proc. Eng. 33, 101079.
Kourdali, S., Badis, A., Boucherit, A., Boudjema, K., & Saiba, A. (2018). Electrochemical disinfection of bacterial contamination: Effectiveness and modeling study of E. coli inactivation by electro-Fenton, electro-peroxi-coagulation and electrocoagulation. J. Environ. Manag. 226, 106-119.
Léziart, T., Dutheil de la Rochere, P.M., Cheswick, R., Jarvis, P. & Nocker, A. (2019). Effect of turbidity on water disinfection by chlorination with the emphasis on humic acids and chalk. Environ. Technol. 40(13), 1734-1743.
Li, Y., Yang, M., Zhang, X., Jiang, J., Liu, J., Yau, C.F., Graham, N.J. & Li, X. (2017). Two-step chlorination: A new approach to disinfection of a primary sewage effluent. Water Res. 108, 339-347.
Li, H., Zhang, Z., Duan, J., Li, N., Li, B., Song, T., & Zhu, C. (2020). Electrochemical disinfection of secondary effluent from a wastewater treatment plant: Removal efficiency of ARGs and variation of antibiotic resistance in surviving bacteria. Chem. Eng. J. 392, 123674.
Martínez-Huitle, C.A. & Brillas, E. (2021). A critical review over the electrochemical disinfection of bacteria in synthetic and real wastewaters using a boron-doped diamond anode. Curr. Opin. Solid State Mater. Sci. 25(4), p.100926.
Mazhar, M.A., Khan, N.A., Ahmed, S., Khan, A.H., Hussain, A., Changani, F., Yousefi, M., Ahmadi, S. & Vambol, V. (2020). Chlorination disinfection by-products in municipal drinking water-a review. J. Clean. Prod. 273, p.123159.
Muddemann, T., Haupt, D., Sievers, M., & Kunz, U. (2019). Electrochemical reactors for wastewater treatment. Chem. Bio. Eng. Rev. 6(5), 142-156.
Nidheesh, P. V., Scaria, J., Babu, D. S., & Kumar, M. S. (2021). An overview on combined electrocoagulation-degradation processes for the effective treatment of water and wastewater. Chemosphere, 263, 127907.
Rougé, V., Allard, S., Croué, J.P. & von Gunten, U. (2018). In situ formation of free chlorine during ClO2 treatment: implications on the formation of disinfection byproducts. Environ. Sci. Technol. 52(22), 13421-13429.
Shahedi, A., Darban, A.K., Taghipour, F. & Jamshidi-Zanjani, A.J.C.O.I.E. (2020). A review on industrial wastewater treatment via electrocoagulation processes. Curr. Opin. Electrochem. 22, 154-169.
Sullivan, B.A., Vance, C.C., Gentry, T.J. & Karthikeyan, R. (2017). Effects of chlorination and ultraviolet light on environmental tetracycline-resistant bacteria and tet(W) in water. J. Environ. Chem. Eng. 5(1), 777-784.
Thines, R. K., Mubarak, N. M., Nizamuddin, S., Sahu, J. N., Abdullah, E. C., & Ganesan, P. (2017). Application potential of carbon nanomaterials in water and wastewater treatment: a review. J. Taiwan Instit. Chem. Eng. 72, 116-133.
Thostenson, J. O., Mourouvin, R., Hawkins, B. T., Ngaboyamahina, E., Sellgren, K. L., Parker, C. B., & Glass, J. T. (2018). Improved blackwater disinfection using potentiodynamic methods with oxidized boron-doped diamond electrodes. Water Res. 140, 191-199.
Trompette, J.L. & Lahitte, J.F., (2021). Effects of some ion-specific properties in the electrocoagulation process with aluminum electrodes. Coll. Surface Physicochem. Eng. Asp. 629, 127507.
Wang, X., Sun, M., Zhao, Y., Wang, C., Ma, W., Wong, M. S., & Elimelech, M. (2020). In situ electrochemical generation of reactive chlorine species for efficient ultrafiltration membrane self-cleaning. Environ. Sci. Technol. 54(11), 6997-7007.
Wei, C., Zhang, F., Hu, Y., Feng, C. & Wu, H. (2017). Ozonation in water treatment: the generation, basic properties of ozone and its practical application. Rev. Chem. Eng. 33(1), 49-89.
Xu, L., Zhang, C., Xu, P. & Wang, X.C. (2018). Mechanisms of ultraviolet disinfection and chlorination of Escherichia coli: Culturability, membrane permeability, metabolism, and genetic damage. J. Environ. Sci. 65, 356-366.
Yang, Y., Lin, L., Tse, L. K., Dong, H., Yu, S., & Hoffmann, M. R. (2019). Membrane-separated electrochemical latrine wastewater treatment. Environ. Sci. Water Res. Technol. 5(1), 51-59.
Zand, A.D. & Abyaneh, M.R. (2019). Equilibrium and kinetic studies in remediation of heavy metals in landfill leachate using wood-derived biochar. Desalination Water Treat. 141, 279-300.
Zand, A.D. and Abyaneh, M.R. (2020). Adsorption of Cadmium from Landfill Leachate on Wood-Derived Biochar: Non-linear Regression Analysis. Environ. Proc. 7, 1129-1150.
Zhang, J., Huang, L., Ng, P. H., Jahangiri, L., Huang, Q., Huang, L., & St-Hilaire, S. (2023). Rapid and safe electrochemical disinfection of salt water using laser-induced graphene electrodes. Aquac, 571, 739479.
Zheng, T., Wang, J., Wang, Q., Meng, H. & Wang, L. (2017). Research trends in electrochemical technology for water and wastewater treatment. Appl. Water Sci. 7, pp.13-30.
Zini, L.P., Longhi, M., Jonko, E. & Giovanela, M. (2020). Treatment of automotive industry wastewater by electrocoagulation using commercial aluminum electrodes. Proc. Saf. Environ. Prot. 142, pp.272-284.