Electrocoagulation combined with adsorption for wastewater treatment: A systematic review

Abstract

Abstract Rising urbanization and industrialization have led to the discharge of substantial volumes of wastewater into the environment. Consequently, wastewater treatment has become crucial for reducing environmental pollution and ensuring human health by eliminating harmful contaminants. Physical, chemical, and biological methods are used to treat wastewater, and advanced approaches frequently combine these techniques or employ innovative technologies. This article, covering recently published articles from 2000 to 2024 extracted from the Scopus database and analyzed using the ‘bibliometrix’ tool in R, aims to highlight progress in wastewater treatment techniques involving the combined application of electrocoagulation (EC) and adsorption (AD). We observed an increase in research interest in the application of the EC/AD process to treat various wastewater matrices through data visualization using ‘Microsoft Excel,’ ‘biblioshiny,’ and ‘VOSviewer.’ The research highlights significant improvements in the EC/AD process that ensure sustainability by incorporating renewable energies and green adsorbents, as well as efficiency in pollutant removal, including emerging contaminants such as heavy metals, dyes, and pharmaceutical compounds. The increased emphasis on the EC/AD process represents a significant advance in wastewater treatment, reflecting the critical need to address the complexities of modern pollution.