Studies on the Removal of Iron from Drinking Water by Electrocoagulation - A Clean Process

• Published in: Clean : soil, air, water Vol. 37; no. 1; pp. 45 - 51
• Main Authors: Vasudevan, Subramanyan, Lakshmi, Jothinathan, Sozhan, Ganapathy
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Weinheim WILEY-VCH Verlag 01.01.2009; WILEY‐VCH Verlag; Wiley-VCH
• Subjects: Adsorption kinetics; Clean technology; Earth sciences; Earth, ocean, space; Electrocoagulation; Exact sciences and technology; Hydrology; Hydrology. Hydrogeology; Iron removal; Isotherms; experimental studies; models; adsorption; efficiency; Electrocoagulation; magnesium; isotherms; technology; Iron removal; density currents; Clean technology; pH; temperature; iron; Adsorption kinetics; drinking water; kinetics
• ISSN: 1863-0650; 1863-0669
• DOI: 10.1002/clen.200800175

The present study describes an electrocoagulation process for the removal of iron from drinking water using magnesium as the anode and galvanized iron as the cathode. Experiments were carried out as a function of pH, temperature and current density. The adsorption capacity was evaluated using both the Langmuir and the Freundlich isotherm models. The results show that the maximum removal efficiency of 98.4% was achieved at a current density of 0.06 A dm–2, at a pH of 6.0. The adsorption of iron was better explained by fitting the Langmuir adsorption isotherm, which suggests a monolayer coverage of adsorbed molecules. The adsorption process followed a second‐order kinetics model. Temperature studies showed that adsorption was endothermic and spontaneous in nature. Research Article: An electrocoagulation process for the removal of iron from drinking water using magnesium as the anode and galvanized iron as the cathode, is described. Experiments are carried out as a function of pH, temperature and current density. The process results in drinkable water from iron‐containing water sources.