Cadmium removal from wastewater by using an electrocoagulation process enhanced with nanoparticles

This study improved the removal efficiency of cadmium ions from wastewater in the electrocoagulation process by using iron oxide nanoparticles. The properties of iron oxide nanoparticles (magnetite) Fe3O4 were investigated using XRD and zeta potential (pHpzc). The tests were carried out in a batch reactor with a volume of (10,10,15) cm3 and two pairs of aluminum electrodes with a surface area of (8*8) cm2 and a thickness of 2mm, separated by 1.5 cm. The electrocoagulation procedure was carried out by varying the number of iron oxide nanoparticles while keeping the other operating conditions constant. It was discovered that increasing 1 to 4 grams of iron oxide nanoparticles per 1 gram of cadmium enhanced the removal effectiveness of cadmium. The removal effectiveness of cadmium dropped from 98 percent to 90 percent when iron oxide nanoparticles increased by more than four. It was also shown that as the dosage of iron oxide nanoparticles is increased, the adsorption capacity increases, from 920 mg/g (with a ratio of 1:1) to 980 mg/g (with a balance of 1:4). After 45 minutes, the optimum magnetite to cadmium ratio removes 98 percent of the cadmium.