Journal of

Background & Objectives: Discharging of wastewaters containing detergents either by manufacturers or through domestic and industrial usages has caused the incidence of serious environmental problems. Entering these materials in to the surface waters reduces the amount of dissolved oxygen in the water and causes unsightly environment and groundwater pollution that is always has been notified by environmental experts.

Methods: This study focuses on the treatment of laundry wastewater containing phosphate, nitrate and COD using iron as sacrificial electrode by EC process. Various operating conditions such as pH (3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 9), distance between the electrode (3, 5, 10,15mm) and current density (3, 6,9,12 mA/cm2) were investigated.

Results: Experimental results showed that pollutant removal efficiency varied by changing pH, distance between the electrodes and current density. According to the results, optimum operating conditions for the removal of phosphate, nitrate and COD, were current density of 12mA/cm2, pH of 7.0, distance between the electrodes equal to 10 mm with Fe electrodes. The removal efficiency of phosphate, nitrate and COD were showed 99.33%, 96.67% and 91.43%. Also Kinetic analysis indicates that the adsorption system obeys a second- order kinetic model.

Conclusion: According to the results, the Fe electrodes have been achieved the high removal efficiency of phosphate, nitrate and COD by using electrocoagulation.