The effect of pH on removal of phosphate from water using aluminum electrodes by electrocoagulation method; [Alüminyum elektrotlar kullanılarak elektrokoagülasyon yöntemi ile sulardan fosfat gideriminde pH'ın etkisi]

In this study, the effect of wastewater pH on phosphate removal by electrocoagulation method using aluminum plate electrodes was investigated. For this purpose, experiments were carried out at initial pH values ranging from 3-10, and the effect of the initial pH of the wastewater on phosphate removal efficiency, energy consumption and reaction rate was analyzed. From the results obtained, it was determined that the initial pHs of the optimum wastewater was 3 and 4. Because at low pH, both phosphate removal efficiency is high and the energy consumption of the system is low. While 97% removal efficiency is reached in 20 minutes at pHi=3, it increases in this period with the increase of the wastewater initial pH. These data show that the removal rate is higher at lower initial pHs. While the 1st degree reaction rate constant at pHi=3 is k1=0.2154 min-1, this value decreases to k1=0.071 min-1 at pHi=10. At pHi=3, the energy consumption of the system has been determined as 0.553 kWh m-3 in 12 minutes of contact time. In addition, in the measurements made during the trials, it was observed that the highest PO4-P removal occurred during the period when the pH of the system was between 5-7.