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Removal of Microbeads from Wastewater Using Electrocoagulation

[Image: see text] The need for better microplastic removal from wastewater streams is clear, to prevent potential harm the microplastic may cause to the marine life. This paper aims to investigate the efficacy of electrocoagulation (EC), a well-known and established process, in the unexplored contex...

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Autores principales: Perren, William, Wojtasik, Arkadiusz, Cai, Qiong
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: American Chemical Society 2018
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6641227/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/31458591
http://dx.doi.org/10.1021/acsomega.7b02037
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author Perren, William
Wojtasik, Arkadiusz
Cai, Qiong
author_facet Perren, William
Wojtasik, Arkadiusz
Cai, Qiong
author_sort Perren, William
collection PubMed
description [Image: see text] The need for better microplastic removal from wastewater streams is clear, to prevent potential harm the microplastic may cause to the marine life. This paper aims to investigate the efficacy of electrocoagulation (EC), a well-known and established process, in the unexplored context of microplastic removal from wastewater streams. This premise was investigated using artificial wastewater containing polyethylene microbeads of different concentrations. The wastewater was then tested in a 1 L stirred-tank batch reactor. The effects of the wastewater characteristics (initial pH, NaCl concentration, and current density) on removal efficiency were studied. Microbead removal efficiencies in excess of 90% were observed in all experiments, thus suggesting that EC is an effective method of removing microplastic contaminants from wastewater streams. Electrocoagulation was found to be effective with removal efficiencies in excess of 90%, over pH values ranging from 3 to 10. The optimum removal efficiency of 99.24% was found at a pH of 7.5. An economic evaluation of the reactor operating costs revealed that the optimum NaCl concentration in the reactor is between 0 and 2 g/L, mainly due to the reduced energy requirements linked to higher water conductivity. In regard to the current density, the specific mass removal rate (kg/kWh) was the highest for the lowest tested current density of 11 A/m(2), indicating that low current density is more energy efficient for microbead removal.
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spelling pubmed-66412272019-08-27 Removal of Microbeads from Wastewater Using Electrocoagulation Perren, William Wojtasik, Arkadiusz Cai, Qiong ACS Omega [Image: see text] The need for better microplastic removal from wastewater streams is clear, to prevent potential harm the microplastic may cause to the marine life. This paper aims to investigate the efficacy of electrocoagulation (EC), a well-known and established process, in the unexplored context of microplastic removal from wastewater streams. This premise was investigated using artificial wastewater containing polyethylene microbeads of different concentrations. The wastewater was then tested in a 1 L stirred-tank batch reactor. The effects of the wastewater characteristics (initial pH, NaCl concentration, and current density) on removal efficiency were studied. Microbead removal efficiencies in excess of 90% were observed in all experiments, thus suggesting that EC is an effective method of removing microplastic contaminants from wastewater streams. Electrocoagulation was found to be effective with removal efficiencies in excess of 90%, over pH values ranging from 3 to 10. The optimum removal efficiency of 99.24% was found at a pH of 7.5. An economic evaluation of the reactor operating costs revealed that the optimum NaCl concentration in the reactor is between 0 and 2 g/L, mainly due to the reduced energy requirements linked to higher water conductivity. In regard to the current density, the specific mass removal rate (kg/kWh) was the highest for the lowest tested current density of 11 A/m(2), indicating that low current density is more energy efficient for microbead removal. American Chemical Society 2018-03-20 /pmc/articles/PMC6641227/ /pubmed/31458591 http://dx.doi.org/10.1021/acsomega.7b02037 Text en Copyright © 2018 American Chemical Society This is an open access article published under a Creative Commons Non-Commercial No Derivative Works (CC-BY-NC-ND) Attribution License (http://pubs.acs.org/page/policy/authorchoice_ccbyncnd_termsofuse.html) , which permits copying and redistribution of the article, and creation of adaptations, all for non-commercial purposes.
spellingShingle Perren, William
Wojtasik, Arkadiusz
Cai, Qiong
Removal of Microbeads from Wastewater Using Electrocoagulation
title Removal of Microbeads from Wastewater Using Electrocoagulation
title_full Removal of Microbeads from Wastewater Using Electrocoagulation
title_fullStr Removal of Microbeads from Wastewater Using Electrocoagulation
title_full_unstemmed Removal of Microbeads from Wastewater Using Electrocoagulation
title_short Removal of Microbeads from Wastewater Using Electrocoagulation
title_sort removal of microbeads from wastewater using electrocoagulation
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6641227/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/31458591
http://dx.doi.org/10.1021/acsomega.7b02037
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