Design and Application of Electrochemical Processes for Decolorization Treatment of Nylanthrene Red dye Bearing Wastewaters

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is the investigation of the capability of electrochemical methods, such as electrocoagulation, electrooxidation and electro-Fenton for decolorization and degradation of synthetic aqueous solutions and actual dye house effluents containing nylanthrene red reactive dye. All electrochemical experiments with the synthetic dye solutions were conducted in electrochemical cell of volume 500 ml containing 200 mL of dye solution at concentration 50 mg/L and interelectrode distance of 1 cm. The three different electrochemical processes were analyzed, and their removal efficiencies were measured and evaluated. In addition, a flow diagram is designed for a continuously operated electrochemical process for remediation of synthetic and actual dye house effluents laden with nylanthrene dye. In the electrocoagulation process with aluminum electrodes, the colored aqueous dye solution was treated at the applied current densities of 5, 10 and 15 mA/cm2 and was quantitatively decolorized in 11, 9 and less than 6 minutes of electroprocessing time respectively. The electrooxidation process conducted with Ti/Pt and boron doped diamond (BDD) electrodes, at the applied current density of 10 mA/cm2 led to the quantitative decolorization and destruction of the dye in 25 and 15 min respectively. In the electro-Fenton process with iron electrodes, supply of added hydrogen peroxide and applied current density of 10 mA/cm2, complete decolorization and degradation of the nylanthrene red dye occurred in 6 min. The actual polyamide textile dyeing effluent of same volume 200 mL with initial turbidity of 114 NTU and COD of 1755 mg/L was treated by electrocoagulation at the same applied current density of 10 mA/cm2. The turbidity was quantitatively eliminated in only 10 min, while COD was reduced by 74.5 % in 40 minutes of electrolysis time