Arsenic Removal Using Electrocoagulation Process

Contamination of water resources with Arsenic poses serious health concerns because of its toxic and carcinogenic nature. Detection of Arsenic at concentrations higher than 10 parts per billion (ppb) in some Philippine water resources confirmed the need for further studies on the contamination and for the investigation of potential treatment technologies. This study examined the removal of Arsenic from synthetic contaminated water, with initial concentrations of 100 ppb and 300 ppb, using electrocoagulation process. The electrocoagulation batch reactor utilised combined iron and aluminum electrodes, in parallel configuration. Employing a Box-Behnken experiment design for response surface modeling (RSM), three factors were investigated with each factor varied at three levels – pH of the wastewater solution current density and reaction time. Results showed that at optimum parameters of pH 7, 25 A/m2 current density and 40 minutes reaction time, the electro coagulation reactor was able to reduce the 100 ppb Arsenic in water by 99.20%. At optimum parameters of pH 7, 20 A/m2 current density, and 40 minutes reaction time, the 300 ppb Arsenic in water was reduced by 98.23%.