Performance analysis of a continuous serpentine flow reactor for electrochemical oxidation of synthetic and real textile wastewater: Energy consumption, mass transfer coefficient and economic analysis

Abstract

A continuous flow electrochemical reactor was developed, and its application was tested for the treatment of textile wastewater. A parallel plate configuration with serpentine flow was chosen for the continuous flow reactor. Uniparameter optimization was carried out for electrochemical oxidation of synthetic and real textile wastewater (collected from the inlet of the effluent treatment plant). Chemical Oxygen Demand (COD) removal efficiency of 90% was achieved for synthetic textile wastewater (initial COD - 780 mg L−1) at a flow rate of 500 mL h−1 (retention time of 6 h) and a current density of 1.15 mA cm−2 and the energy consumption for the degradation was 9.2 kWh (kg COD)−1. The complete degradation of real textile wastewater (initial COD of 368 mg L−1) was obtained at a current density of 1.15 mA cm−2, NaCl concentration of 1 g L−1 and retention time of 6 h. Energy consumption and mass transfer coefficient of the reactions were calculated. The continuous flow reactor performed better than batch reactor with reference to energy consumption and economy. The overall treatment cost for complete COD removal of real textile wastewater was 5.83 USD m−3.