Removal of scale forming species from cooling tower blowdown water by electrocoagulation using different electrodes

[Display omitted] •Removal of scale forming species from cooling tower blowdown water was investigated by EC.•The effect of a various operating parameter on EC has been optimized to achieve promised removal efficiencies.•The EC generated sludge was characterized by SEM-EDX, XRD and FTIR.•The maximum removal efficiency of 55.36% and 99.54% was achieved for hardness and silica ions respectively using Al-electrode. This work investigates the effect of electrocoagulation (EC) using Al, Fe, and Zn electrodes for removing hardness ions and dissolved silica from cooling tower blowdown (CTB) water. The real samples were collected from urea fertilizer factory (Helwan Fertilizer Company), Cairo, Egypt. The effect of operational parameters, such as current density, electrolysis time, inter-electrode distance and stirring rate were studied and evaluated for the maximum efficiency. At the optimum operational conditions, Al-electrode removed the scale forming species from CTB water more efficiently than Zn and Fe electrodes. Al, Fe, and Zn electrodes removed 55.36% and 99.54%, 36.99% and 98.93% as well as 38.63% and 95.62% for the total hardness and silica ions, respectively. In order to rationalize the removal mechanism, the EC generated sludge was characterized by SEM-EDX, XRD, and FTIR. The present investigation inferred that Al-EC generates amorphous nature crystalline and other anode materials (Fe and Zn) forms definite crystalline particles. EDX showed the presence of Ca2+, Mg2+, and silica ions in the sludge which proved the removal of these scale species from CTB water. As a conclusion, this study revealed that EC process using Al-electrode is a promising technology for the removal of scale forming species from CTB water.