University of Novi Sad, Faculty of Sciences, Trg Dositeja Obradovića 3, Novi Sad, Serbia.
University of Novi Sad, Faculty of Sciences, Trg Dositeja Obradovića 3, Novi Sad, Serbia.
Chemosphere. 2024 May;355:141701. doi: 10.1016/j.chemosphere.2024.141701. Epub 2024 Mar 18.
The purpose of this study is investigation of electrocoagulation (EC) as a treatment of municipal wastewater, integrating life cycle impact assessment (LCIA) for assessing its environmental performance of investigated treatment. The study evaluated the effectiveness of EC in removing physico-chemical and microbial parameters using aluminum (Al) and iron (Fe) electrodes in monopolar and bipolar modes. Bipolar arrangement of Al(-)/Al/Al/Al(+) electrodes achieved the highest removals: 70% COD, 72% BOD followed by complete elimination of total phosphorous, turbidity and microbial parameters. This treatment was subject to investigation of the influence of reaction time (t = 10-60 min) on removals at higher current density (CD = 3.33 mA/cm). In order to reduce energy consumption, the same reaction time range was used with a reduced CD = 2.33 mA/cm. Following removal efficiencies obtained: 47-72% COD (higher CD) and 53-78% (lower CD); 69-75% BOD (higher CD) and 55-74% CD (lower CD); 12-21% NH (higher CD) and 7-22% NH (lower CD). Total P, NO and NO compounds showed the same removals regardless the CD. Decrease in current density did not influence removals of total suspended matter, turbidity, salinity as well as microbial parameters. The bipolar arrangement of Al(-)/Al/Al/Al(+) electrodes, assuming a lower CD = 2.33 mA/cm and t = 30 min, was assessed with the Recipe 2016Midpoint (H) and USEtox v.2 LCIA methods to explore the environmental justification of using EC for wastewater treatment. The LCIA results revealed that the EC process significantly reduces water eutrophication and toxicity for freshwater and marine ecosystems, but has higher impacts in global warming, fossil fuel consumption, human toxicity, acidification, and terrestrial ecotoxicity due to high energy consumption. This can be mainly explained by the assumption in the study that the EC precipitate is dispersed to agricultural soil without any pre-treatment and material recovery, along with relatively high energy consumption during the process.
本研究旨在探讨电化学（EC）作为一种处理城市废水的方法，同时结合生命周期影响评估（LCIA）来评估所研究处理方法的环境性能。该研究评估了在单极和双极模式下使用铝（Al）和铁（Fe）电极的 EC 在去除物理化学和微生物参数方面的有效性。Al(-)/Al/Al/Al(+)双极排列的电极实现了最高的去除率：70%COD、72%BOD，随后完全消除了总磷、浊度和微生物参数。该处理方法还考察了在更高电流密度（CD=3.33 mA/cm）下，反应时间（t=10-60 分钟）对去除率的影响。为了降低能耗，在相同的反应时间范围内，使用较低的电流密度 CD=2.33 mA/cm。获得的去除效率为：47-72%COD（高 CD）和 53-78%（低 CD）；69-75%BOD（高 CD）和 55-74%CD（低 CD）；12-21%NH（高 CD）和 7-22%NH（低 CD）。总磷、NO 和 NO 化合物的去除率不受 CD 的影响。电流密度的降低对总悬浮物质、浊度、盐度以及微生物参数的去除率没有影响。Al(-)/Al/Al/Al(+)电极的双极排列，假设较低的电流密度 CD=2.33 mA/cm 和 t=30 分钟，使用 Recipe 2016Midpoint（H）和 USEtox v.2 LCIA 方法进行评估，以探讨使用 EC 进行废水处理的环境合理性。LCIA 结果表明，EC 工艺显著减少了淡水和海洋生态系统的富营养化和毒性，但由于高能耗，在全球变暖、化石燃料消耗、人类毒性、酸化和陆地生态毒性方面的影响更大。这主要可以解释为研究中假设 EC 沉淀物未经任何预处理和材料回收就分散到农业土壤中，并且在处理过程中消耗相对较高的能量。
