Electrochemical peroxidation for the bleaching of real textile effluents

Continuous flow Electrochemical Peroxidation (EP) was studied as a method for wastewater treatment in the Mexican textile industry. Fe2+ was generated in a reactor by electrochemical cells in the presence of H2O2. EP was combined with later stages of flocculation, sedimentation and vacuum filtration, in order to study the effects of pH, Fe dose, and H2O2 concentration on overall process efficiency. Under optimal conditions (747 mg/L of Fe and 1226 mg/L of H2O2 at pH 3.0, obtained by means of a central compound design, it was possible to remove 86.4% of the dissolved organic carbon (DOC) and 97.7% of the color. It was observed that electrocoagulation (EC) and chemical oxidation (CO) with H2O2 have a synergistic effect when applied simultaneously during EP, compared to either effect on its own. EP was found to have an operating cost of 3.87 USD/m3, which accounts for energy consumption, chemical products, transport, and sludge disposal. This work is novel because it analyzes the effect of the main variables for EP in a continuous flow reactor with water from the textile industry, with competitive costs and treatment times applicable to real units.