Treatment of Reactive Red 241 dye by electro coagulation/biosorption coupled process in a new hybrid reactor

The current research evaluates the treatment of Reactive Red 241, an anionic textile dye, by electro coagulation/biosorption (EC/BS) coupled process in a new hybrid reactor. The composite biomass pellets, suspended in the reactor using a twin rotary bucket system, were exploited as biosorbent. The influencing operational parameters of current density, pH, biosorbent dosage, and initial dye concentration were elucidated for decolorization. An effective performance of hybrid reactor resulted in complete decolorization with lower energy requirement and operational cost. At optimum conditions, color removal efficiency of 99.56% was obtained after 20 min at current density 21.7 mA/cm2, pH 7, biosorbent dosage 8 g/L, and dye concentration 50 mg/L with specific electrical energy consumption of 1.7 kWh/kg dye, and operational cost of 0.307 $/kg dye. The results indicate the potential of electro coagulation/biosorption (EC/BS) coupled hybrid reactor for the effective treatment of colored effluents.