Treatment of ceramic industry wastewater by electrocoagulation method

Ceramic industry is one of the prevalent industry subsections in Turkey. Electrocoagulation method is an advanced wastewater treatment process. There are successful applications on various wastewaters for this method. In the study within the scope of this thesis, wastewater sample, taken from a ceramic factory that located in Bilecik-Turkey, was treated with the electrocoagulation method. In this study, it was aimed to survey current density, electrode type and support electrolyte concentration effects on the treatment of ceramic wastewater by the electrocoagulation method. Results of the experiments are compared Water Pollution Control Regulation of Turkey and it is observed that the wastewater is useful for discharging after treatment. The removal rate of Suspended Solid, one of the water pollution parameters that is above on discharge limits in raw wastewater, is bigger than 99%. The removal rate of Cadmium, Zinc and Lead; water pollution parameters that are below down the discharge limits in raw wastewater; is bigger than 80%, 86% and 99% in a row. After the experiments some calculations about energy and electrode cost was done and the best available treatment confirmed with ferric electrode at the current density of 1mA/cm2. In the experiments about support electrolyte concentration, the option of non-use support electrolyte is determined as the economically most available option. In addition, parameters that directly effects on settlement characteristics like zeta potential and particle size are measured. Zeta potential is decreased from -20,6 mV to -6,02 mV and particle size parameter d0,5 is decreased from 8,537 µm to 4,009 µm. As a conclusion, that electrocoagulation method is a good alternative for the treatment of the ceramic industry wastewater is determined. This study was laboratory scale and it can be suggested that trying on pilot and full scale plants.