Open AccessA hybrid electrocoagulation-adsorption process for fluoride removal from semiconductor wastewater
Author(s) -
Siti Nurehan Abd Jalil,
Nurulhuda Amri,
Azrine Ajien,
Normah Ismail,
Benjamin Ballinger
Publication year - 2019
Publication title -
journal of physics. conference series
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.21
H-Index - 85
eISSN - 1742-6596
pISSN - 1742-6588
DOI - 10.1088/1742-6596/1349/1/012056
Subject(s) - electrocoagulation , adsorption , wastewater , fluoride , aluminium , materials science , chemistry , nuclear chemistry , pulp and paper industry , environmental engineering , inorganic chemistry , metallurgy , environmental science , organic chemistry , engineering
Semiconductor processing facilities regularly emit wastewater with fluoride concentrations exceeding 100 mg/L which can cause major health issues in the local population. This research aims to address this issue by optimising an electrocoagulation-adsorption (EC-AD) process using two aluminium electrodes and activated carbon. The applied voltage (5, 15, and 20V) and adsorbent dosage (0.20, 0.50, and 1.00g) parameters were varied to treat a synthetic wastewater solution containing 100 mg/L of fluorine. It was found that fluoride removal efficiencies are significantly affected by the adsorbent dosages and applied voltages used. Increasing the applied voltage from 5V to 20V increased the removal efficiency from 37.55% to 64.25% for 0.2g adsorbent dosage and from 33.85% to 67.25% for 0.5g dosage. After all the parameter combinations were tested, an applied voltage of 20V and an adsorbent dosage of 0.50g produced the maximum fluoride removal efficiency. These parameter values thus define the optimal conditions for the EC-AD process to reduce fluoride from highly concentrated wastewater. The AD, EC, and hybrid EC-AD process achieved fluoride removal efficiencies of 2.86%, 41.13%, and 67.25% respectively from synthetic wastewater. Therefore, it was showed that the combination EC-AD process performs better than adsorption (AD) or electrocoagulation (EC) processes used in isolation.