Phosphate removal from wastewater by electrocoagulation using aluminium electrodes

The removal of phosphate from wastewater by electrocoagulation using aluminum electrodes was investigated. The main objectives of the experiments were to investigate the effects of the various operating parameters, such as current density, Electrocoagulation(EC)duration, initial phosphate concentration, temperature, pH of the solution, salt (NaCl) concentrations and electrolyte type [NaCl, KCl, NaNO 2, NaNO 3 ] on the phosphate removal efficiency from synthetic wastewater in batch EC process. The ranges of experimental parameters were between 10 and 150 mg PO 4/L for initial phosphate concentration, 3–10 for initial pH of the wastewater, 0.5–5 g NaCl/L for supporting electrolyte concentration, 2g/L of other supporting electrolytes KCl, NaNO 3, NaNO 2 and 1.13–4.54 mA/cm 2 for current density. The results showed that the maximum removal efficiency was achieved at a current density of 4.54mA/cm 2 , at a pH of 7.0 and 4-5 g/L NaCl.