Electrocoagulation (EC) Process
In the electrocoagulation process, electrodes (anode and cathode) are suspended in a reaction chamber containing wastewater and direct current is passed through them. During the process, the anode (iron or aluminium) is oxidized to ferrous or aluminium ions.
At cathode, water molecules are lysed to protons (H+) and hydroxyl ions (OH-). The generated protons are reduced to hydrogen gas and hydroxyl ions which combine with the aforementioned metal ions to produce metal hydroxide flocs. These flocs are primarily responsible for contaminant removal and are settled along with the contaminants, leaving clean supernatant to be then discharged.