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EMERGING TECHNOLOGY SUMMARY: ELECTRO-PURE ALTERNATING CURRENT ELECTROCOAGULATION
Citation:
Barkley*, N P., C. Farrell, AND T. Williams. EMERGING TECHNOLOGY SUMMARY: ELECTRO-PURE ALTERNATING CURRENT ELECTROCOAGULATION. EPA/540/S-93/504, 1993.
Impact/Purpose:
information
Description:
The Superfund Innovative Technology Evaluation (SITE) Program was authorized as part of the 1986 amendments to the Superfund legislation. It represents a joint effort between the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Office of Research and Development and Office of Solid Waste and Emergency Response. The program is designed to assist and encourage the development of waste treatment technologies that would contribute innovative solutions to our hazardous waste problems. Under the Emerging Technology portion of the SITE Program, a 2-yr research effort was conducted by Electra-Pure Systems, Inc., to evaluate the technical and economic feasibility of alternating current electrocoagulation (ACE) for remediation of aqueous waste streams at Superfund sites. The ACE Technology introduces low concentrations of nontoxic aluminum hydroxide species into the aqueous media by the electrochemical dissolution of aluminum-containing electrodes or pellets. The aluminum species that are produced neutralize the electrostatic charges on suspended material and/or prompt the coprecipitation of certain soluble ionic species, and thereby facilitate their removal. Electrocoagulation has been demonstrated to enhance the filtration and dewatering rates for solids removed from an effluent; such enhancements are prompted by growth in the mean particle size from typically ,0.3 pm in diameter to as much as 150 pm, depending on the degree of electrocoagulation. Significant reductions in the tofal suspended solids (TSS) loading of particulate slurries and in the concentrations of metals (lead, copper, zinc, chromium), fluorides, and phosphates from aqueous streams can be achieved under certain pH conditions. Treatment does not entail adding chemicals (polymers, metal salts, polyelectrolytes) whose accumulation might inhibit reuse of the effluent as process water. Rather, the insoluble aluminum hydroxide resulting from electrocoagulation may be removed by standard filtration practices.
URLs/Downloads:
EMERGING TECHNOLOGY SUMMARY: ELECTRO-PURE ALTERNATING CURRENT ELECTROCOAGULATION540_S-93_504.PDF (PDF, NA pp, 1 KB, about PDF)