Oxidation of Textile Dye Through Electrocoagulation Process Using Scrap Iron Electrodes

The textile industry stands out as one of the largest consumers of water among the industrial sectors. Additionally, its effluent presents characteristics such as high load of chemical oxygen demand (COD), total organic carbon (TOC), suspended solids, color, turbidity, phenol, and salts, which require an efficient treatment of the wastewater produced. Among the several researches that have arisen focused on the treatment of textile effluents, electrocoagulation stands out. This method consists of an electrochemical process that generates its own coagulant by applying electric current to metal electrodes immersed in the solution. The electrodes used in the present study are metallic plates made of scrap iron. The objective of this work is to evaluate their application in an electrocoagulation process for the decolorization of real and synthetic effluents. The efficiency of the treatment was evaluated by applying it to a synthetic effluent containing commercial indigo blue dye and to a real effluent from the textile industry, assessing parameters such as color, turbidity, pH, electrical conductivity, COD, TOC, phenol, soluble iron, sludge generation, and electrode wear. The synthetic effluent obtained average color removal of 95%, 96% phenol, and low sludge production in 120 min of electrolysis. In the real effluent from the textile industry, an average color removal of 92%, 97% turbidity, 100% phenol, 65% TOC, and 49% COD in 90 min of electrolysis was obtained. The electrocoagulation process using scrap iron as electrodes proved to be efficient in removing the dye present in the real textile industry effluent, as well as in the synthetic effluent.