Removal of Brilliant Green from Aqueous Solution by Electrocoagulation using Aluminum Electrodes: Experimental, Kinetics, and Modeling

Abstract

In this paper, removal of brilliant green dye from aqueous solutions was studied using electrocoagulation using aluminum electrodes. The effect of operational parameters such as initial dye concentration, electrolysis time, current density, inter electrode distance, initial pH, and salt (NaCl) concentration on the performance of the electrocoagulation process were investigated. The experimental results revealed that dye removal was decreased when initial dye concentration and inter electrode distance were increased. On the other hand, higher current density accelerated the dye removal rate. Maximum dye removal of 99.9% was observed for current density of 416.7 A/m 2 after 30 minutes of operation from the dye solutions of 100 mg/L. Optimum pH range for the highest dye removal was pH 4.0–10. It was also observed that increase in salt concentration in the solution reduces the specific electrical energy consumption. The kinetic analysis shows that the dye removal from aqueous solution follows first order reaction. Finally, phenomenological models were proposed to illustrate the dependency of the dye removal rate constant and specific electrical energy consumption on current density, inter electrode distance, initial dye concentration, and salt concentration.