(762c) “Municipal Wastewater Treatment Using Electrocoagulation and Adsorption for Reuse In Industrial Processes and Green Areas”

One of the biggest challenges of the 21^st century is to provide water, primarily potable, to the majority of the world population. This is a critical issue, especially in developing countries. One way to augment that effort is to reuse water. Currently, some emerging wastewater treatment technologies based on electrochemistry are available that are competitive and advantageous over conventional technologies (e.g., Electrocoagulation (EC), electro-flotation, electro-decantation and electro-oxidation). Although EC has been known for more than a century, it has not been comprehensively studied. EC has been commercialized for the removal of specific contaminants and wastewater treatment. This work demonstrates how EC has been studied experimentally and is proposed as an alternative method for the biological treatment of municipal wastewater. Experiments were conducted to determine the optimum operational conditions. Results show a remarkable removal efficiency for: chemical oxygen demand (COD) 77 to 94%; for coliforms 80%, and; colony forming units (CFU) 99.98%; within 30 seconds residence time.