Electrocoagulation for spent coolant from machinery industry

Abstract

Spent coolant is considered as one of the most polluting industrial wastes and causes environmental problems. It mostly contains high non-biodegradable organic carbon and oil contents; the biodegradability index was very low at 0.04, which is difficult to be effectively treated by common treatment systems. Electrocoagulation (EC) was proposed for a pre-treatment of coolant. The laboratory-scale of EC reactor was developed with Al electrodes and 10 mm of interelectrodes. The efficiency of the EC reactor on chemical oxygen demand (COD) removal was investigated at various current densities and electrolysis times. The highest current density of 50 mA/cm2 induced a short electrolysis time of 10 min to reach the steady state of approximately 65% COD removal. When lower current densities of 20–40 mA/cm2 were supplied to the EC reactor, COD removal efficiency of 65% can be achieved at longer electrolysis times. According to the specific energy consumption and sludge production, the optimal condition for spent coolant treatment was the current density of 20 mA/cm2 and electrolysis time of 30 min in which a COD removal of efficiency of 68% was obtained, 0.88 kWh/kg-COD of the specific energy consumption and 0.04 kg/kg-COD of the sludge production.

Keywords

• current density
• electrocoagulation
• electrolysis time
• spent coolant treatment