Influence of operating parameters on electrocoagulation of C.I. disperse yellow 3

This work deals with the electrocoagulation (EC) process for an organic dye removal. The chosen organic dye is C.I. disperse yellow 3 (DY) which is used in textile industry. Experiments were performed in batch mode using Al electrodes and for comparison purposes Fe electrodes. The experimental set-up was composed of 1 L beaker, two identical electrodes which are separated 2 cm from each other. The main operating parameters influencing EC process were examined such as pH, supporting electrolyte concentration CNaCl, current density i, and DY concen­tration. High performance EC process was shown during 45 min for 200 mg/L dye concentration at i = 350 A m-2 (applied voltage 12 V) and CNaCl = 1 g L-1 reaching 98 % for pHs 3 and 10 and 99 % for pH 6. After 10 min, DY was also efficiently removed (86 %) showing that EC process may be conveniently applied for textile industry wastewater treatment. EC using Fe electrodes exhibited slightly lower performance comparing EC using Al electrodes