This study investigated the viability of treating pharmaceuticals from real municipal wastewater using electrochemical process i.e. intermittent electrocoagulation. Batch experiments were performed using a laboratory scale electrochemical reactor with aluminum and stainless steel as anode and cathode, respectively. Diclofenac (DCF), carbamazepine (CBZ) and amoxicillin (AMX) were selected as representative of highly consumed pharmaceuticals under different drug categories (anti-inflammatory, antiepileptic and antibiotic) that are frequently detected in water resources. The effects of continuous and intermittent (5 min ON/ 20 min OFF) application of direct current (DC) field on the abatement of pharmaceutical compounds were determined and found to favor the latter in terms of treatment efficiency at varying current densities (CD = 0.3, 0.5 and 1.15 mA/cm2). The removal efficiencies of conventional pollutants namely chemical oxygen demand (COD), dissolved organic carbon (DOC), aromatic and humic substances (in terms of UV254), ammonia nitrogen (NH4-N) and orthophosphate (PO4-P) were also obtained and found to be directly proportional to current density and reaction time
