Treatment of Surface Treatment Effluents by Electrocoagulation Process Using Aluminium Electrodes

The surface treatment industry generates effluents with a high load of highly toxic chemicals which must be treated under increasingly stringent regulation. The aim of this study was to treat the effluents of surface treatment unit of an aeronautical industry by the electrocoagulation process using aluminium electrodes. This process is used to study the performance to remove colloidal load, significant amount of oxidizable material and high levels of various metal elements (Cr, Fe, Zn, Cu and Al) from these effluents, under optimum conditions of pH 7, 8.6A of current intensity and 60 min of application. The electrocoagulation process was found to be effective in reducing turbidity (97.12%), COD (97.5%), SS (97.84%) and conductivity (96.82%), hexavalent chromium (99.99%), Zn (96.82%), Cu (94.3%), Iron (99.9%), Al (91.96%). The treated effluent conformed to the Moroccan standards of surface treatment discharge.