An experimental study for adapting electrocoagulation as a technique for fluoride removal from water

Abstract

Abstract A small amount of fluoride in potable water can maximize teeth mineralization and minimizes their cavities. However, fluoride presence in excess quantities in drinking water could cause severe illnesses including Alzheimer’s syndrome and women infertility. Thus, scholars are concerned over the last decades in developing techniques to minimizes the concentration of fluoride from wastewater and lower its impact on human health. The current research aims to utilize the electrocoagulation technique to remove the fluoride from wastewater. Experiments were conducted to study fluoride removal using rectangular electrocoagulation cell and analyze the influence of four main parameters namely detention duration, electrodes spacing, pH and current density on the performance of the electrocoagulation techniques on fluoride removal. The results showed that 93% of the fluoride was removed from the wastewater after 20 minutes of treatment using 5mm electrodes spacing with a current density of 2 mA/cm2 at a pH level of 7. The main parameters have a significant influence on the removal efficiency of the fluoride. A higher fluoride removal efficiency can be achieved in the acidic setting. The removal efficiency is positively related to the electrical current and the detention time while it is negatively related to the electrode spacing.