Electrocoagulation technique in surface water treatment using aluminum and iron electrodes / Saad Abdelhalim Bakry Abdelsalam ; Supervised Khaled Zaher Abdalla , Minerva Edward Matta

Thesis (M.Sc.) - Cairo University - Faculty of Engineering - Department of Civil Engineering

In this thesis, treatment of surface water by electrocoagulation technique using aluminum and iron electrodes has been studied. Experiments were carried out by using natural surface water that was collected at the intake of the new Quhafah drinking water treatment plant (Fayoum, Egypt). Surface water was treated at room temperature with a variable applied current density which varied from 3 to 5 mA/cm2, at different reaction time (20, 40, and 60 minutes) and with variable initial pH (4, 5.5, and natural water pH). Furthermore, the electrical energy consumption (EEC) for each electrode has been calculated. From the results, it was observed that aluminum had better performance in removal of TOC, TDS and conductivity than iron. Also, it seemed that both materials are almost equally effective in removal of turbidity. Where, in case of aluminum electrodes, the maximum removal efficiency of TOC, turbidity, TDS and conductivity was 73.58%, 99.10%, 83.85% and 83.87% respectively. Whereas, in case of iron electrodes, the maximum removal efficiency of TOC, turbidity, TDS and conductivity was 64.78%, 98.25%, 78.01% and 78.04% respectively. Also, the results showed that the EEC was lower in case of iron electrodes than in case of aluminum electrodes, where the maximum EEC was 33.99 KWh/m3 for iron electrodes and it was 46.80 KWh/m3 for aluminum electrodes

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