Influence of electrodes spacing on internal temperature of electrocoagulation (EC) cells during the removal (Fe II) from drinking water

The electrocoagulation (EC) method, which is in situ generation of coagulating ions by applying direct electrical current to metallic electrodes, has recently been applied to remove a wide spectrum of pollutants from waters and wastewaters. However, its efficiency is highly influenced by key operational parameters such as electrolysis time and current density. Therefore, the current investigation has been carried out to explore the influence of electrodes spacing on the performance of EC method in terms of internal temperature iron removal from drinking water. To achieve the planned target, iron containing synthetic water samples were electrolysed, for 25 min, using a flow column electrocoagulation reactor (FCER), at three different distances between electrodes (5, 10, and 20 mm). The progression of temperature of water being treated was measured at 5 minutes intervals over a 25 minutes period. These batch experiments were commenced at a constant current density of 1.5 mA/cm and initial pH of 6. The results obtained showed that the amount of produced heat is directly proportional to the DBE, where it has been noticed that the water temperature increased by about 9% as the distance between electrodes increased from 5 to 20 mm, respectively.