Magnetically attracted iron scrap anode based electrocoagulation for phosphate removal

Abstract

This study shows the effectiveness of a novel electrocoagulation process using magnetically attracted iron scrap anodes for phosphate removal from aqueous solution. The effect of contact time, reaction temperature, dose of iron scrap, initial phosphate concentration, applied voltage, pH, magnetic force, and the species of competing anions on the efficiency of phosphate removal and the reaction products has been investigated. The techniques of XRD, XPS, and VSM were used to characterize the elemental composition and the types of the reaction products in order to clarify the interaction between novel anode and phosphate ions. The removal of phosphate was fitted by a pseudo first-order reaction kinetic model. The results showed that magnetically attracted iron scrap anodes were electrodissoluted under an applied potential and reacted with phosphate into Fe-hydroxo-phosphate complexes. The work suggested that electrocoagulation using magnetically attracted iron scrap anodes had the potential to become a promising technique for phosphate precipitation. Highlights Electrocoagulation by magnetically attracted iron scrap was used for phosphate removal.; The effect of different parameters on novel electrocoagulation was investigated.; Elemental composition and the type of the reaction product were characterized by XRD, XPS, and VSM.; Fe-hydroxo-phosphate complexes were formed during iron scrap electrocoagulation.; Iron scrap waste was used for a high-value electrode.;

Keywords

• electrocoagulation
• fe-hydroxo-phosphate complexes
• magnetically attracted iron scrap
• phosphate removal