Removal of disperse and reactive dyes from aqueous solutions using ultrasound-assisted electrocoagulation

This study investigates the effectivenesses of electrocoagulation, ultrasound, and ultrasound-assisted electrocoagulation processes for the removal of color and chemical oxygen demand (COD) from aqueous dye solutions. The coupling of electrocoagulation processes with ultrasound has been found useful for water and wastewater treatment in recent years. These experimental results demonstrate that ultrasound-assisted electrocoagulation processes provide greater color and COD removal than ultrasound or electrocoagulation processes alone. The optimum conditions for the combined process were found to be Fe-Fe-SS-SS/Al-Al-SS-SS (electrode connection type) in the monopolar electrode connection mode; 75 and 50 A M-2 (current density) for RR241 and DB 60, respectively, at a fixed frequency of 40 kHz; and an ultrasound power of 180 W in a 1 L aqueous solution. Under these optimum conditions, the color and COD removal efficiencies for an aqueous solution of 100 mg L-1 reached 99-99.9% and 100 - 100% for RR241 and DB 60, respectively. Complete removal was achieved for both COD and color by employing a combination of ultrasound-assisted electrocoagulation (US + EC) with only 4 min of electrolysis, while the traditional EC treatment achieved removal of approximately 87% of COD and 92% color for both dyes using the MP-P connection mode for 5 min. Conversely, ultrasound power alone removed approximately 34-60% of color and 30-36% of COD for RR241 and DB 60, respectively. Compared with the traditional EC treatment, the combination of ultrasound irradiation and electrocoagulation treatment significantly reduced electrode passivation and increased the removal of pollutants in shorter operation times. (C) 2020 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.