Electrocoagulation of cutting oil emulsions using aluminium plate electrodes

The treatment of very concentrated oil–water emulsions by electrocoagulation (EC) was experimentally investigated as a pre-treatment step prior to a membrane process. The oil–water emulsion was prepared from a cutting mineral oil B22 currently used for drilling and machining operations. The electrocoagulation progress was followed by the measurement of COD, turbidity and pH in a batch process with recirculation of the liquid. This study is mainly focused on the effects of operating parameters such as initial pH, current density, oil concentration and recirculation rate, on the de-emulsification efficiency. Kinetic curves showed that the EC process exhibits two phases: a “reactive phase” during which the COD and the turbidity removals increase with electrolysis, and a stationary phase for which further aluminium dissolution is useless in the pollution abatement. The results showed that the treatment efficiency increases with increasing current density, but decreases with oil concentration. It appears that treatment of the considered cutting oil is completed through dissolution of around 10 mg Al/g oil, with a slight positive effect of the liquid flow rate. Best results are also obtained with initial pH near 7.