Electrochemical oxidation for the treatment of textile industry wastewater

This study elucidates the reduction of organics from textile effluents through electrochemical oxidation technique. Effect of pH and current intensity were investigated in this system. It was found that degradation was maximum at the current intensity of 0.6 A and at a pH of 1.3. Under the same experimental conditions the removal of chemical oxygen demand (COD), total solids, total dissolved solids and total organic carbon were found to be approximately 68%, 49.2%, 50.7% and 96.8%, respectively. Effect of current intensity on color removal was also investigated as a function of electrolysis time (30–210 minutes) and it showed that maximum removal efficiency (96%) was reached within 60 minutes at 0.6 A. While studying the effect of pH on COD removal, it was observed that a decrease in pH to an optimum of 1.3 showed maximum COD reduction of 68%. These results suggest an important role of these parameters in electrochemical process for removing organic pollutants.