Abstract
The electrocoagulation (EC) process has been widely studied in recent years to remove a wide range of contaminants present in different types of water: fluorides, arsenic, heavy metals, organic matter, colorants, oils, and recently, pharmaceutical compounds. However, most of the studies have been aimed at understanding the process factors that have the most significant effect on efficiency, and these studies have been mainly on a batch process. Therefore, this review is focused on elucidating the current state of development of this process and the challenges it involves transferring to continuous processes and the recent exploration of its potential use in the removal of pharmaceutical contaminants and its implementation with other technologies.
Highlights
Various pollutants in water for human use and consumption, municipal wastewater, and industrial effluents represent a public health problem and a threat to ecosystems
All effects contribute to two phenomena determining the efficiency: the coagulating species formed and the mass transfer/mixing conditions. Operating parameters such as current density, pH, electrode material, supporting electrolyte, conductivity, electrode arrangement, and treatment time are factors that govern the coagulant species generation through other variables which affect the efficiency of the process, such as the generation and size of gas bubbles, Faradaic resistance, due to the oxidation-reduction reactions occurring in the cell, the ratio between the potential difference and the current applied to the system, as well as the passivation of the electrodes
Reactor design is the focal point of an electrochemical water treatment process; the performance of the reactor has a direct effect on the process operation, and the cost since it affects many of the other units of the process, such as settlers and filters [39]
Summary
Various pollutants in water for human use and consumption, municipal wastewater, and industrial effluents represent a public health problem and a threat to ecosystems Contaminants such as fluoride, arsenic, heavy metals, dyes, fats and oils, and pharmaceuticals, to name a few, come from various sources, and their removal represents a challenge due to the characteristics of each type of water. This review aims to present the current panorama of the development of the EC process concerning its implementation in a continuous flow, which brings this technology closer to the application on a larger scale and its coupling with other processes. This fact makes its application more feasible to remove pharmaceutical contaminants present in the water
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
