Abstract

Sewage needs to be treated before it is discharged into the water bodies such as rivers and lakes. Sewage wastewater were analyzed in this study, by electrocoagulation process using an alternating power source with current density of 10 A/m2 and 20 A/m2 at treatment time of 10, 20, 40, 60 minutes respectively using copper and zinc electrodes. The effect of electrode material was determined and how chemical oxygen demand (COD), total suspended solids (TSS), Conductivity, pH and turbidity were affected by changing contact time and with changing the current density. We obtained very satisfactory results for the two electrochemical cells such as copper and zinc electrodes. The optimum conditions were determined at treatment time of 20 minutes for a current density of 10 A/m² with TSS removal efficiency of 92%, COD removal efficiency of 91.5%, pH of 7.50 , with a low turbidity value of 4.27 turbidity (NTU) and the conductivity of 108 μs for copper electrodes. Whereas, using zinc electrodes, the optimum treatment time was 20 minutes at 10 A/m² current density, TSS removal efficiency was of 92%, COD removal efficiency of 85.7%, pH of 7.80 with turbidity removal efficiency of 87.3 % and the conductivity of 117.3 μs. This electrocoagulation process has attracted a great deal of attention in treating various wastewaters because of its versatility and environmental compatibility.