Removal of Inorganic Pollutants and Recovery of Nutrients from Wastewater Using Electrocoagulation: A Review

Abstract

Water pollution is a major concern due to its detrimental effects on the environment and public health. The particular danger of inorganic pollutants arises from their persistent toxicity and inability to biodegrade. Recently, electrocoagulation (EC) has been demonstrated as an alternative sustainable approach to purifying wastewater due to the increasingly strict pollution prevention rules. In particular, EC has been used to remove inorganic pollutants, such as Cr, Zn, Pb, or As. EC has emerged as a sustainable tool for resource recovery of some inorganic pollutants such as N and P that, when recovered, have value as plant nutrients and are critical in a circular economy. These recovered materials can be obtained from diverse agricultural drainage water and recycled as fertilizers. In this work, a state-of-the-art technique is reviewed describing the advances in contaminant removal and nutrient recovery using EC through an in-depth discussion of the factors influencing the contaminant removal process, including operating pH, time, power, and concentration. Furthermore, limitations of the EC technology are reviewed, including the high-power consumption, fast deterioration of the sacrificial electrodes, and the types of contaminants that could not be efficiently removed. Finally, new emerging constructs in EC process optimization parameters are presented.