Study of Electrocoagulation (EC) Process for Nitrate Removal from Water Using Alternating Current (AC)

Abstract

This work studies the possibility of removing nitrate ions from polluted water by using alternating current (AC) with electrocoagulation (EC) technique. The properties of this process have been studied by using monopolar Aluminum electrodes and different current densities to determine the optimal density, to improve the purification efficiency of polluted drinking water. Also, the initial concentration effect of nitrate has been studied for the removal efficiency and energy consumption of this process. The results showed that the current density increasing leads to improve the rate of nitrate removal from water and a clear decrease in treatment time. Also showed that nitrate removal increases when the initial nitrate concentration decreases. Where the removal rate reached to approximately 74.4% with an initial nitrate concentration 800 mg/l, and 97.75% with an initial concentration 200 mg/l. Therefore, the required purification limit has been reached at only 30 minutes of treatment at this concentration, with a total energy consumption 57 kw.h/m³. Electrocoagulation using alternating current can be considered a good and effective method for removing nitrate from water because of its high removal efficiency, processing speed and low-cost.