Electrochemical process efficiency for the removal of organic phosphorus from synthetic wastewater

Phosphorus compounds are among the potential water pollutants which enter the water resources through different ways such as wastewater discharge. Although there are physical, chemical and biological treatment methods for phosphorus removal from the wastewater, much attention has been focused on the use of electrochemical process. This bench-scale study was conducted on synthetic wastewater samples containing organic phosphorus using a closed batch system. The effects of reaction time and initial concentration of organic phosphorus on the electrochemical process of phosphorus removal were studied. In this study, the effect of steel electrodes, an electric current of 0.6 A, a reaction time of 10-60 minutes and also the initial phosphorus concentrations (2 to 32 mg/l) were investigated. The results of this study showed that the concentration of residual organic phosphorus after the electrochemical process at different initial concentrations was reduced to less than 1 mg/l (equivalent to the effluent discharge standard to receptive water in Iran) at a reaction time of 50 minutes. Moreover, the phosphorus removal efficiency was between 93.73-98.72% at different initial concentrations and a reaction time of 60 minutes. The electrochemical process, using the steel electrodes at an electric current of 0.6 A, can reduce the phosphorus concentration to less than 1 mg/l. Moreover, the optimum reaction time for the removal of organic phosphorus is 50 minutes.