Removal of salicylic acid by electrochemical processes using stainless steel and platinum anodes.

Salicylic acid is an important pharmaceutic and widely used in plant hormones and personal care products. Peroxicoagulation (PC) method has recently been employed in treatment of various pollutants. In general, carbon-based cathode materials such as graphite and carbon fiber are used for in situ HO production and stainless steel (SS316-L) anode for low iron production in PC studies as an efficient system modification. This study was conducted to investigate salicylic acid removal efficiency of electrochemical processes. Stainless steel was used as anode in this study. It was believed that the oxidation effect of stainless steel could be responsible for partial removal of salicylic acid. In this study, stainless steel anode and graphite or carbon fiber cathodes were employed in PC treatments for removing salicylic acid from aqueous solution, and some model trials were also made to investigate the in-situ Fe and HO production performance. Present findings revealed a total organic carbon (TOC) removal of 30.5% and salicylic acid removal of 69.5% at optimized conditions. The EF system modification used in the study can be proposed as an easy, low-cost and effective treatment alternative for treatment of pharmaceutical industry wastes such as salicylic acid.