Removal of Acid Brown 14 in aqueous media by electrocoagulation: Optimization parameters and minimizing of energy consumption Original Research Article

Electrocoagulation (EC) has been employed for the removal of Acid Brown 14 (AB14) from water by a bench scale (BS) and pilot scale (PS). In order to find the best condition of the process, the influence of various parameters such as anode materials, pH, supporting electrolyte, current density and stirring speed were investigated. Energy consumption was considered as the main criterion of process evaluation and optimum conditions were found. The effect of anode surface covering and its position were studied. At the optimum conditions by the BS reactor after 18 min, 91% and 87% of the dye and COD content of the solution have been removed, respectively. Ultimately EC process using a pilot scale (PS) reactor was performed. By this apparatus after about 200 min, 80% and 64% of the dye and COD content were removed, respectively. Kinetic trend of color and COD removal for both of the BS and PS reactors were obtained.