Electro-coagulation process performance in treatment of the effluent from egg processing industry

It is obvious that, the organic load of wastewaters produced by food industries, especially the egg processing industry, is very high, therefore, it is necessary to use a cost efficient method with high efficiency for the treatment of this kinds of wastewater. Thus, the aim of this study was to investigate the effect of the electro-coagulation process for the treatment of the wastewater of egg processing industries.
This experimental study was carried out on the wastewater of this industry in a batch system during three seasons (summer, autumn and winter) in 2015. Without pH adjustment, the effect of operating parameters including current density, retention time and electrode type, on COD reduction was investigated. Also, the technical and economic assessment in terms of energy and electrode consumption was studied.
The results showed that, COD removal efficiency increased with increasing current density as well as increasing operating time; naturally, it is necessary to determine the optimum points in order to reduce operating costs including energy and electrode consumption. Maximum removal efficiency of COD (99%) was obtained using the aluminum electrode at contact time 10 min and current density of 7mA/cm2. Also, aluminum electrode with energy consumption of 9kwh/m3 and anode consumption of 0.5 mg/cm is more economical than iron electrode.
According to the results, in comparison to conventional methods, the treatment of the wastewater of egg processing industries using the electro-coagulation process is more effective and cost efficient.