Corrugated iron sheets for electrocoagulation of sulphate ions in industrial effluents. (September 2020) - Yamba, Siyanda
Abstract: High sulphate concentrations in industrial effluents damage municipality infrastructures. Old corrugated iron was used as an electrode to remove SO4 2- concentration in industrial effluents. Electrodes were characterized using SEM and EDS. The optimised parameters were pH 2, 3000 ​ppm, 15 V and 120 min. In an industrial effluent, 99% of SO4 2- was removed including PO4 2-, F - and COD. The sulphates were physically adsorbed on Zn and Fe hydroxides according to first order kinetics. The corrugated iron is reusable and consumed low energy (0.1725 ​kWh/m 3 ). Graphical abstract: Image 1 Highlights: An old corrugated iron used as a sacrificial electrode in the electrocoagulation process. 95% of the sulphate concentration was removed from industrial effluents. High concentration of sulphates was removed in the presence of potential interfering ions. The electrocoagulation process consumed low energy of 0.1725 ​kWh/m 3 .