Removal of lead from simulated wastewater by electrocoagulation method

Abstract

The separation of lead ions from wastewater was carried out in an electrocoagulation cell which has a set of electrodes, aluminum anode and stainless steel cathode. The effect of several working parameters such as pH, current density, initial lead concentration, electrodes surface area, gap between electrodes and sodium chloride concentration on the performance of electrocoagulation cell were examined. From the experiments found that the higher removal efficiency achieved at pH 9, with increasing current density and decreasing gap between electrodes the removal efficiency enhanced and the treatment time decreased. Using a flowrate of 0.025 l/min after (7min) electrolysis, the Pb(II) concentration decay from (250mg/l) to only (2.5mg/l) corresponding to a 99% removal efficiency.