Desalination 249 (2009) 167–174

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Desalination
j o u r n a l h o m e p a g e : w w w. e l s ev i e r. c o m / l o c a t e / d e s a l

Electrochemical pretreatment of textile effluents and effect of electrode materials on

the removal of organics
G. Bhaskar Raju a,⁎, M. Thalamadai Karuppiah a,b, S.S. Latha a, D. Latha Priya a, S. Parvathy a, S. Prabhakar a
a
National Metallurgical Laboratory (Madras Centre), CSIR Madras Complex, Taramani, Chennai-600113, India
b
Central Ground Water Board, Rajaji Bhavan, Besant Nagar, Chennai-600090, India

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: The aquatic environment around the textile industries in India was severely affected due to continuous
Accepted 20 August 2008 discharge of effluents. In order to avoid further deterioration, the pollution control board of Tamil Nadu, India
Available online 4 October 2009 has enforced zero discharge concepts throughout the state. Consequently, most of the industries have opted
membrane technology to recover water. The present study was aimed to find out the efficacy of
Keywords:
electrochemical techniques as pretreatment methods to reverse osmosis (RO). The textile wastewater was
Electrooxidation
Instantaneous current efficiency
initially treated by electrocoagulation to remove the suspended solids. After the electrocoagulation, the
COD removal wastewater was further treated by electrooxidation for COD removal. Mild steel as anode was found to be
Color removal effective for coagulation of suspended solids. For electrooxidation, graphite and RuO2/IrO2/TaO2 coated
Graphite electrode titanium were used as electrodes. The efficiency of these electrode materials was evaluated in terms of
Dimensionally stable electrode chemical oxygen demand (COD) removal, instantaneous current efficiency (ICE) and electrooxidation index
(EOI). The COD was removed to the extent of 90–93% using graphite and 54% with RuO2/IrO2/TaO2 coated
titanium electrodes. The current efficiency of 40% and 11% was achieved with graphite and RuO2/IrO2/TaO2
coated titanium respectively. The degradation of organics was followed using GC–MS and the reason for
incomplete degradation of organics in the presence of RuO2/IrO2/TaO2 coated titanium was discussed.
© 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction the effect of hydraulic retention time (HRT) on removal efficiencies of

Textile industries are considered as the most polluting in terms of
volume and complexity of wastewater. Most of the textile units in India
are situated at Tirupur, Ludiyana and Surat. In Tirupur, there are 712
dyeing and bleaching industries that generate 87,000 m3/d of waste-
water. The nearby aquatic systems have been severely affected due to
continuous discharge of these effluents. A study carried out indicates
that the ground water in the Tirupur area is contaminated with
substances capable of inducing DNA damage in human cells [1]. In view
of serious threat to the environment, the industries in Tirupur are forced
to adopt technology leading to zero discharge. Though the biological
treatment is generally cost-effective, it is seldom opted to treat textile
effluents, because the dye metabolites are more toxic than the parent
compounds. Ekici et al. [2] investigated the degradation and stability of
some environmentally relevant azo dye metabolites in activated sludge
system and concluded that these metabolites are relatively stable and
complete degradation is difficult. Also the biochemical oxidative
treatment of wastewater containing azo dyes often results in colored
water unfit for reuse. A sequential anaerobic/aerobic reactor was tried to
treat a simulated textile wastewater containing azo dyes to determine
⁎ Corresponding author. Tel.: +91 44 22542077; fax: +91 44 22541027.
E-mail address: gbraju55@hotmail.com (G. Bhaskar Raju).
color, chemical oxygen demand (COD) and total aromatic amine [3]. The
azo dyes were found to decolorize under reductive anaerobic conditions
in very short HRTs but the breakdown products were found to be stable
under anaerobic conditions. The degradation of certain dyes by
advanced oxidation processes (AOP) was attempted by many research-
ers [4–8]. Though the intensity of the color is decreased by prolonged
photochemical irradiation, the effective degradation of pollutants was
observed to be poor. The poor degradation was attributed to the
presence of dyeing auxiliaries such as NaCl, Na2SO3 and Na2SO4 which
can scavenge hydroxyl radicals.
In recent years, electrochemical techniques viz. electrocoagulation,
electroflotation and electrooxidation have drawn the attention of
many researchers since the main reagent is the electron which is a
“clean reagent”. Also secondary contamination could be avoided by
electrocoagulation. The destruction of disperse dyes by chemical
oxidation using ozone, hypochlorite and Fenton reagent are compared
with electrochemical oxidation [9]. The oxidation by hypochlorite was
observed to be poor both in terms of COD and color. Though ozonation
enabled color reduction, the COD removal was reported to be poor.
However the electrochemical oxidation was proved to be more
efficient compared to chemical oxidation. Most of the research papers
have dealt on the electrochemical degradation of model aqueous dye
solutions using different electrode materials. Electrooxidation was
observed to be very effective for the removal of CI acid orange 10 [10]

0011-9164/$ – see front matter © 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.desal.2008.08.012
168 G. Bhaskar Raju et al. / Desalination 249 (2009) 167–174
and Procion black 5B [11]. The degradation of organic pollutants in the
presence of various metals and metal-oxide coated electrodes was
studied by various researchers. Electrode materials such as graphite
[10], Ti/Pt [12], Ti/Pt–Ir, Ti/PbO2, Ti/PdO–Co3O4 and Ti/RhOx–TiO2
[13], Ti coated with oxides of Ru/Ir/Ta [10], boron doped diamond
electrode [14] were tried. Though boron doped diamond electrodes
were proved to be effective, their commercial viability is to be
ascertained. Electro-Fenton method for the removal of methyl red
[15] and electrooxidation for the treatment of textile dyes and dye
house effluents [16] was found to be efficient. Recently, extensive
review on the application of electrochemical technologies for
wastewater treatment was published [17]. The process flow sheet
comprising nano filtration, reverse osmosis (RO) and Multi Effect
Evaporation (MEE) was found to be economically viable for the
treatment of textile effluents [18]. However, the bottlenecks such as
high operational cost of MEE and maintenance of RO membrane
module are to be addressed. If the RO rejects can be minimized by
proper preliminary treatment, objectives of cost reduction and
reusability of salt could be achieved. Hence the present study was
aimed to find out the effect of electrochemical techniques and
electrode materials for the removal of organics from typical textile
effluents. Electrocoagulation and electrooxidation were tried to
remove the suspended solids and COD from the effluents.
Fig. 1. Photographs showing arrangement of electrodes. a. Electrocoagulation cell. b. Electrooxidation cell with graphite sheets. c. Electrooxidation cell with graphite rods. d. Electrooxidation
cell with RuO2/IrO2/TaO2 coated titanium.
2. Materials and methods
2.1. Electrochemical reactors
Batch type electrocoagulation and electrooxidation reactors each
with a working volume of three liters were fabricated using acrylic
sheet. Mild steel and aluminum rods measuring 0.6 cm diameter and
11 cm length and with a minimum purity of 98% were used as electrodes
for electrocoagulation. Six such rods connected to a common rod form
the anode assembly and an equal number of rods with similar
arrangement form the cathode assembly. The entire electrode assembly
(undivided electrolytic cell) was placed on non-conducting wedges
fixed to the bottom plate of the electrocoagulation tank. Two different
electrode materials, viz. RuO2/IrO2/TaO2 coated titanium and graphite
were used for electrooxidation. The RuO2/IrO2/TaO2 coated titanium
rods and graphite electrodes were obtained from M/s Titanium and
Tantalum Products and M/s Carbone Lorraine respectively. The active
anodic surface areas of graphite rods, graphite sheets and RuO2/IrO2/
TaO2 coated titanium rods were estimated to be 918 cm2, 1104 cm2
and 791 cm2. The electrodes were arranged in unipolar mode and
minimum distance was maintained between the electrodes to avoid
the ohmic losses. The photographs of electrochemical reactors were
shown in Fig. 1.
 G. Bhaskar Raju et al. / Desalination 249 (2009) 167–174 169

Table 1
Physico-chemical characteristics of the raw effluent and electrochemically processed samples.

Parameter Raw effluent After After

electrocoagulationa electrooxidationb

Color Dirty green Pale yellow Colorless

pH 8.04 8.64 7.91
Conductivity (μS cm− 1) 16300 15890 15270
BOD5 (mg L− 1) 175 80 5.0
COD (mg L− 1) 530.7 246.1 22.3
Total solids (g L− 1) 10.75 9.52 9.44
Total dissolved solids 9.19 9.08 9.01
(g L− 1)
Suspended solids (SS) 1.5 0.04 0.03
(g L− 1)
Total hardness as CaCO3 640 420 320
(mg L− 1)
Ca2+ (mg L− 1) 40 40 40 Fig. 2. UV–Vis. absorption spectrum of raw and after electrocoagulated samples (a: raw
Mg2+ (mg L− 1) 131 78 53 effluent, b: mild steel, c: aluminum).
Total alkalinity as CaCO3 12450 920 885
(mg L−1)
Chloride (mg L− 1) 5317 5069 4431
Sulfate (mg L− 1) 360 360 416 coagulation. The removal of COD is observed to be slightly better in the
TKN (mg L− 1) 11 BDL BDL presence of mild steel (54%) compared to aluminum electrodes (51%).
Mean size of SS (μm) 6.21 – – It is well known that the oxy-hydroxides of Al3+/Fe2+ ions formed
a
Electrocoagulation time: 10 min, current density: 25 mA cm− 2 and electrode: mild during the process act as coagulant. Slightly better COD removal
steel. observed with mild steel electrodes could be attributed to the
b
Electrooxidation time: 150 min, current density: 5.446 mA cm− 2 and electrode:
precipitation of dissolved organics as metal complexes. The duration
graphite rod.
of electrocoagulation was found to decrease by increasing the current
density. At an applied current density of 15.15 mA cm− 2, maximum
2.2. Experimental methods COD removal was observed within 30 min whereas at the current
density of 25.25 mA cm− 2, it took just 20 min. The applied current
For each experiment, 2 L of textile wastewater was transferred into density determines both coagulant dosage and bubble generation rate,
the electrochemical cell and the electrodes were connected to the which in turn influences mass transfer rate. At high current densities,
respective anode and cathode leads of the rectifier and energized for a bubble density increases resulting in improved upward momentum of
required duration at a constant current. During the experiment, bubble flux and favors the removal of suspended solids by flotation.
samples were collected at different time intervals and analyzed for
various parameters.

2.3. Analytical techniques

The aqueous solutions resulting from electrochemical treatment

were analyzed for COD biochemical oxygen demand (BOD5), suspended
solids, chlorides, total Kjeldahl nitrogen (TKN), total hardness and
sulfate according to the standard methods recommended by American
Public Health Association (APHA) [19]. The electrical conductivity of the
effluent and size distribution of suspended solids were estimated using
conductivity meter and particle size analyzer (CILAS 1180) respectively.
UV–Visible spectroscopy (Shimadzu, Model 160-A) was employed to
monitor the color change during the process. The organics present in the
effluent was analyzed using HP 6890 GC–MS equipped with HP-5MS
fused silica capillary column. The temperature was increased at a rate of
5 °C min− 1 and the flow rate of carrier gas (helium) was maintained at
21.7 mL min− 1. The sample volume of 1 μL was injected and the EI mass
spectra were obtained at 70 eV electron energy. The background-
subtracted mass spectra were matched against those in the NIST spectra
library to identify the organic compounds.

3. Results and discussion

3.1. Electrocoagulation

The raw wastewater collected from Tirupur textile cluster was

analyzed and its characteristics were shown in Table 1. From the data it
is evident that the wastewater contains 1500 mg L− 1 of suspended
solids with a mean size of 6.21 μm and 530 mg L− 1 of COD. The sample
was initially subjected to electrocoagulation using mild steel and
aluminum as electrodes separately to remove the suspended solids.
The results incorporated in Table 1 indicate that around 97% of
suspended solids and 54% of COD were eliminated during electro- Fig. 3. Effect of current density and electrode material on COD removal.
170 G. Bhaskar Raju et al. / Desalination 249 (2009) 167–174

The UV–Visible spectra of raw effluent and electrocoagulated
samples were recorded and shown in Fig. 2. The raw effluent has
displayed two absorption bands at 657 nm and 609 nm. During the
process of electrocoagulation the color changed from pale-green to
yellow and both the bands disappeared within 10 min of electro-
coagulation. Sufficient quantity of effluent was processed by electro-
coagulation using steel electrode and the sample was subjected to
filtration. The filtrate was used for further electrooxidation studies.
mild oxidizing environment, stable and refractory molecules need
high concentration of oxidant.
Two different mechanisms that are direct oxidation on the surface of
the electrode and indirect oxidation mediated by the oxidizing agent
generated in situ were suggested for electrochemical oxidation of organic
molecules. Though the hydroxyl radicals act as mediated oxidants [20]
they are highly reactive and oxidation of organics is expected close to the
anode surface. These hydroxyl radicals are generated according to the
following

• þ −
3.2. Electrooxidation 2H2 O→2OH þ 2H þ 2e ð1Þ

The degradation of organics in the presence of different anode − • −

OH →OH þ e : ð2Þ
materials and current densities was studied and the results were
presented in Fig. 3. The concentration of Cl− was also measured The oxygen evolution from physically adsorbed OH• could be
simultaneously and results were shown in Fig. 4. During the process, represented as
the concentration of Cl− was decreased from 5069 mg L− 1 to
4395 mg L− 1 indicating the discharge of chlorine at the anode. The • þ −
MðOH Þ→0:5 O2 þ M þ H þ e : ð3Þ
COD removal in the presence of graphite sheet, graphite rod and RuO2/
IrO2/TaO2 coated titanium were found to be 93.3%, 90.9% and 54.5% In the presence of noble oxide catalytic anode such as RuO2/IrO2/ TaO2
respectively. Though the extent of COD removal is different, complete coated titanium, the oxidation of the pollutant was attributed to the
decolorisation of effluent was achieved within 5 min irrespective of formation of higher oxides [9] via adsorption of hydroxyl radical and its
electrode material. The decrease in COD was observed to be step wise interaction with the oxygen already present in the oxide lattice with the
instead of steady and continuous. This may be either due to generation possible transition to higher oxide.
of stable intermediates during the process or variety of organic
molecules with varying degree of oxidation present in the water. • •
MOx þ OH→MOx ð OHÞ→MOxþ1 þ H þ e
þ −
ð4Þ
Depending on the structural stability and resistance to oxidation, each
organic molecule requires certain threshold oxidant concentration to In the typical scenario of electrolytic oxidation, various oxidants
decompose. During the process, oxidants like hydrogen peroxide and such as nascent oxygen, ozone, hydrogen peroxide, free chlorine and
hypochlorite are generated and their concentration will be gradually free radicals such as ClO, Cl, and OH will be generated. The oxidation of
built-up with time. While simple organic molecules can degrade under

Fig. 4. Discharge of chloride ion at different of current densities and electrode material. Fig. 5. ICE as the function of time for different anode material at constant current.
 G. Bhaskar Raju et al. / Desalination 249 (2009) 167–174 171

electrooxidation. It is related with COD using the following rela-

tion [22]

½ðCODÞt –ðCODÞt + Δt 
ICE = F V: ð6Þ
8IA Δt

Fig. 6. Influence of anode material on EOI values at different applied current.
pollutants may also occur by oxidation of chloride involving active
chlorine (HOCl and −OCl).
þ −
Cl2 ðaqÞ þ H2 O↔HOCl þ H þ Cl
In general, it is evident that as the concentration of Cl− ion
decreases, the COD also proportionately decreased. This implies that
the oxidation of organics depends mostly on active chlorine
generated during electrolysis. Serikawa et al. [21] have observed a
strong catalytic effect in the conversion of organic pollutants to
innocuous CO2 and H2O in the presence of chloride ion. It is also
apparent that the indirect electrooxidation involving various forms
of chlorine was a predominant process in removing organic
pollutants from chloride medium. During the electrooxidation, the
sulfate content was found to increase from its original value of
360 ppm to 416 ppm. It is known that most of the dyes are sulfonated
to increase their solubility in water. During the oxidation process, the
sulfonate groups attached to the dyes will be released as a result of
oxidation/degradation of the dyes. The sulfonates are further
oxidized to sulfates during electrooxidation. Thus the excess sulfate
in aqueous solution originates actually from the breakdown of dye
molecules during oxidation.
3.2.1. Effect of current density
Current density and current efficiency (CE) are important factors
in electrochemical degradation of organic pollutants. Current effi-
ciency is the ratio of current consumed for the degradation of the
organic pollutant to that of the total consumption. Instantaneous
current efficiency (ICE) is the current efficiency at the given time of
CODt and CODt + Δt are the chemical oxygen demand at time t and
t + Δt respectively in g L− 1, F is the Faraday's Constant (96487 Cmol− 1),
V is the volume of effluent in L, IA is applied current in A, Δt is the time
difference in seconds. The ICE fraction as a function of time for different
anode material at constant applied current was shown in Fig. 5. At low
applied current of 1A and initial stage of oxidation, graphite rod electrodes
have exhibited the ICE value of 1.2. The better ICE at the initial stage of
electrooxidation may be attributed to the presence of higher concentra-
tion of organics in the vicinity of the electrodes. This indicates that the
electrooxidation is under current control regime at least in the initial stage
of electrooxidation. The ICE was observed to decrease at higher current
densities and also beyond 20 min of electrooxidation. This may be
explained due to the depletion of organics concentration in the vicinity of
electrode surface. These observations suggest that the oxidation of
organics proceed by diffusion controlled process. The mechanism of
process control can be arrived from the ratio of organics concentration to
applied current. High value (>1.0) of this ratio lead to current controlled
process, while low value (<1.0) correspond to diffusion controlled
process. The slow degradation of organics and consequent decrease in
current efficiency beyond 20 min may be due to the conversion of original
ð5Þ
organic molecules to stable intermediates that resist further oxidation.
The possibility of passive film on the anode surface could be discounted
because of continuous generation of hypochlorite ions in aqueous
solution.
3.2.2. Effect of anode material
The oxidation ability of the different anode material was deter-
mined by the term Electrochemical Oxidation Index (EOI), which is
defined as the mean current efficiency from initial concentration of a
pollutant to the time at lowest pollutant concentration [23].
τ
∫ ICEdt
EOI = 0
ð7Þ
τ
The integral term is calculated from the area under the curve
plotted between ICE and time. The τ is electrolysis time at which
pollutant concentration is low. The values obtained were plotted and
shown in Fig. 6. The EOI values directly indicate the degree of
oxidation. The EOI value for graphite material was found to vary
between 0.21 and 0.35 which is greater than the value (0.11) obtained
for RuO2/IrO2/TaO2 coated titanium. It also shows that EOI decreases
with increase in current density.
The performance of anode material in terms current efficiency,
fraction of organics degraded and power consumption at different
current densities for a fixed duration of 150 min is presented in

Table 2
Comparison of performance of anode materials.

Type of anode material Charge Current density COD removal fraction CE Power consumption
(surface area) (A h L− 1) mA cm− 2 (%) kWh g− 1

Graphite Sheet 6.25 4.528 0.93 12.31 0.293

(1104 cm2) 3.75 2.717 0.80 17.59 0.190
1.25 0.905 0.34 22.83 0.117
Graphite rod 6.25 5.446 0.91 11.99 0.268
(918 cm2) 3.75 3.267 0.83 18.32 0.146
1.25 1.089 0.60 40.17 0.048
Titanium rod 6.25 6.321 0.54 7.10 0.344
(791 cm2) 3.75 3.792 0.50 11.10 0.113
172 G. Bhaskar Raju et al. / Desalination 249 (2009) 167–174

Table 2. From the results it is evident that as the current density
increases the degradation rate of organics and power consumption
increases whereas current efficiency decreases. Better removal of
organics with less power consumption was observed in the case of
graphite material. This may be due to the higher porosity of graphite
which offers more active sites. The RuO2/IrO2/TaO2 coated titanium
was less effective compared to graphite material.
3.2.3. Degradation products
The organic compounds present in the effluent and their
degradation products formed during the course of electrooxidation
were identified using GC–MS. Fig. 7 shows the gas chromatogram of
the raw effluent (Fig. 7a) and metabolites formed after 150 min of
electrooxidation in the presence of different electrodes (Fig. 7b, c, d).
The possible relative fragments that matches above 90% against the

Fig. 7. (a): Chromatogram of the sample extracted from raw effluent (20 min to 45 min retention time). (b): Chromatogram of the sample extracted after 150 min electrooxidation
using RuO2/IrO2/TaO2 coated titanium electrode at current density of 6.32 mA cm− 2. (c): Chromatogram of the sample extracted after 150 min electrooxidation using graphite sheet
at current density of 4.53 mA cm− 2. (d): Chromatogram of the sample extracted after 150 min electrooxidation using graphite rod at current density of 5.45 mA cm− 2.
 G. Bhaskar Raju et al. / Desalination 249 (2009) 167–174 173

Table 3
Details of organic compounds identified by GC–MS.

Peak area

Sl. no. Rt CAS no. Possible fragments m/z Raw Tit GS GR

1 4.08 000107-06-2 1,2-Dichloro- ethane 98.96 14.13 – – 4.09

2 4.12 14094-08-7 Methyl propylsulfoxide/ 106.19 – 16.87 – –
019780-60-0 3-Ethyl-2-methyl-1-heptene/ 140.27 – 16.87 – –
040515-19-3 Benzene, 2-azido-1-methyl-4-nitro 178.0 – 16.87 –
3 4.98 016617-46-2 3-Amino-4-cyano-pyrazole 108.10 2.78 – – –
4 8.27 001516-58-1 Benzene, 1-azido-2-nitro-/ 164.0 – 1.99 – –
026817-65-2 1-Chloro-4-decyne/ 172.69 – 1.99 – –
000629-11-8 1,6-Hexanediol 118.17 – 1.99 – –
5 8.96 017721-95-8 2,6-Dimethyl-1-nitroso piperidine 142.0 0.66 – – –
6 9.55 000150-78-7 Benzene, 1,4-dimethoxy- 138.16 – 1.86 – –
7 20.14 000128-37-0 Butylated hydroxytoluene 220.35 0.81 – – –
8 20.29 000629-62-9 Pentadecane 212.41 1.44 – – –
9 20.93 000096-76-4 2,4-Bis(1,1-dimethylethyl)- phenol 206.32 4.66 – 4.14 1.12
000084-66-2 Diethyl phthalate 222.24 4.66 – – –
10 21.89 000084-66-2 Diethyl phthalate 222.24 0.98 – – –
11 22.4 026472-00-4 4,7-Methano-1H-indene, 3a,4,7,7a-tetrahydrodimethyl-/ 160.26 – 4.49 – –
12 23.89 003731-52-0 Picolamine/ 108.14 27.15 1.39 10.12 9.9
003731-53-1 4-(Aminomethyl)pyridine 108.14 27.15 – 10.12 –
13 28.79 017851-53-5 2-Methylpropyl-butyl-phthalate 278.34 6.50 – – –
14 30.71 000084-74-2 Dibutyl phthalate / 278.34 3.67 – – –
000085-70-1 Butylphthalyl butyl glycolate 336.38 3.67 – – –
15 41.41 000117-81-7 Bis(2-ethylhexyl)phthalate 390.56 3.94 – – 2.09
000603-11-2 3-Nitrophthalic acid 211.13 3.94 – – –

Tit: RuO2/IrO2/TaO2 coated titanium, GS: graphite sheet, GR: graphite rod as anodes.

compounds listed in NIST library were identified and listed in Table 3.
The quantitative estimation of individual compounds (dye metabo-
lites) is not attempted, as the respective standards are not easily
available. However the degradation of organics was qualitatively
assessed from the relative abundance data and peak area. Major
compounds present in the raw wastewater were identified and listed
in Table 3. All these compounds might have originated from the
dyeing auxiliaries and/or dye impurities. The 3-nitrophthalic acid is
used in the preparation of quinophthalene series of dyes which are
useful in dyeing of hydrophobic fibers like polyester, nylon, etc. The
derivatives of phthalate (DBP, DEP and BEP) are commonly used as
wetting agent, dispersant and softener in the application of disperse
dyes and also as a plasticizer for polyvinylchloride (PVC). The
3-amino-4-cyano-pyrazole is used in the preparation of quaternised
nitrogen heterocyclic azo dyes. Among the various compounds
present in raw wastewater picolamine/4-(aminomethyl) pyridine
and 2, 4, bis (1, 1-dimethylethyl) phenol continued to remain in
aqueous phase even after electrooxidation. The complete oxidation of
intermediate compounds such as methyl propylsulfoxide, 2-azido-1-
methyl-4-nitro benzene, 1-azido-2-nitro benzene, 1-chloro-4-decyne,
1, 6-hexanediol formed in the presence of RuO2/IrO2/TaO2 coated
titanium was found to be difficult. The low efficiency of RuO2/IrO2/
TaO2 coated titanium electrodes could be attributed to these stable
intermediates which could resist degradation. It also indicates that the
path of organics degradation is different with graphite and RuO2/IrO2/
TaO2 coated titanium electrode. 1-2, dichloromethane might have
resulted from the oxidation of dye molecules by chlorine or
hypochlorite.
From the above discussion, it is evident that the organics present in
the textile effluents could be thoroughly eliminated by electrooxidation
process. Further treatment of this water by nano filtration and reverse
osmosis is expected to boost the performance and life of membrane.
The RO rejects containing inorganic salts can be either reused or safely
disposed. Also the overall load on multi effect evaporation can be
reduced so that high cost on MEE could be minimized.
4. Conclusion
The purification of textile wastewater by electrocoagulation and
electrooxidation techniques was studied. The suspended solids were
removed to the extent of 97% from its initial concentration of
1565 mg L− 1 by electrocoagulation. The initial COD of 530 mg L− 1
was reduced to 246 mg L− 1 using mild steel as anode. After
electrocoagulation, the effluent was further subjected to electroox-
idation using two different materials viz. graphite and RuO2/IrO2/TaO2
coated titanium as anodes. The COD was removed to the extent of 90–
93% using graphite and 54% using RuO2/IrO2/TaO2 coated titanium.
Graphite electrode has exhibited higher CE values of 40%, whereas
RuO2/IrO2/TaO2 coated titanium yielded only 11%. The energy
consumption, EOI, CE values clearly indicated the superior perfor-
mance of graphite electrodes. Graphite materials exhibit EOI values
(0.21–0.35) with less energy consumption and efficient anodic
oxidation of organics compared to RuO2/IrO2/TaO2 coated titanium.
The processed water can be safely treated by reverse osmosis to
recover the water for reuse.
Acknowledgements
The authors are thankful to the Director of the National Metallur-
gical Laboratory for the permission to publish this work. The authors
acknowledge the financial grant of M/s GSRC, Ahemadabad towards
the project titled “Treatment of textile effluents by electrochemical
techniques” (GAP-0150).
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