Cleaner production on electrochemical removal of sulphonamide from wastewater using three-dimensional electrode system: characterisation and kinetics

Abstract

ABSTRACT In the examination of increasing interest in emerging pollutants, advanced technologies for emerging pollutants have been focused in the environmental science field. This study focuses on the sulphonamide removal from aqueous phase using designed three-phase three-dimensional electrode reactor. The parameters such as pH, particle electrode concentration, initial concentration of sulphonamide and the applied voltage have been studied using batch experiments. Sulphonamide was removed in 60 min at 12 V, pH 3 and 15 g of particle electrode in an electrochemical cell. From fact-finding, it was concluded that the efficiency of the electrochemical reactor increases with a decrease in pollutant concentration with optimum voltage (12 V). SEM-EDS and FTIR have been used for the characterisation of Sulphuric acid-activated Strychnos potatorum particle electrodes (SASP). The removal of sulphonamide using this reactor followed the pseudo-second-order (R2 > 0.96) and Langmuir–Hinshelwood kinetics (R2 = 0.9504). This newly designed three-dimensional reactor is an effective system for the complete removal of toxic pollutants from wastewater and this can be an alternative to the existing system.