Treatment of livestock slaughterhouse wastewater by the electrochemical method using stainless steel and copper electrodes

Abstract

AbstractElectrochemical methods provide one of the most effective approaches for wastewater treatment. However, the performance of these systems is highly dependent on the type of wastewater to be treated and the electrode material used (including some relatively cheap and readily available materials such as stainless‐steel and copper). Unfortunately, the applicability of stainless steel as anode and copper as cathode electrodes materials for the purification of livestock slaughterhouse wastewater has not been captured in the previous studies. This study investigated the potential of combining stainless steel (anode) and copper (cathode) as electrode materials for the purification of livestock wastewater. The influence of contact time (20, 40, and 60 min) on the pollutants’ removal efficiency was also investigated. From the analysis results, it was observed that the contact time and type of pollutant to be removed had a significant influence on the removal efficiency of the electrochemical treatment system. The highest removal efficiency was achieved from the combination of TSS and 60‐min contact time, with 92% removal efficiency. While the lowest removal efficiencies was observed from the combination of phosphates, nickel, aluminum, and ammonia and 10 min contact time; with removal efficiencies of 22.6%, 23.4%, 34.3%, and 34.3%, respectively. However, in terms of general removal efficiency (after 60 min of the contact time), the lowest removal efficiency was observed from ammonia with a removal efficiency of 62.2% . The treatment system also achieved high removal efficiencies for some other parameters such as Turbidity, Color, TSS, COD, BOD, and TOC ranging from 85.5% to 89.2% after 60 min of the contact time.