Pulse Electrolysis in the Electro-Oxidation on the Ti/SnO2-Sb2O5 Anode for Wastewater Treatment

Electro-oxidation is a potentially efficient method to remove organic compounds commonly found in municipal wastewater. Compared to the conventional treatment by microbial digestion, electro-oxidation can offer significant saving in capital equipment, land footprint and treatment time. However, one of the biggest challenges facing this technology is to reduce the energy consumption associated with treatment. This work investigated the possible use of square-wave current pulsing as an electrolysis technique to improve the current efficiency. The experiments evaluated the efficiencies of electro-oxidation in simulated and actual wastewater. Two electrolysis modes, constant current and pulsing, were compared. The results indicate that the overall efficiency was dependent only on the average current, and there was no significant difference between pulsing and steady state electrolysis. This result suggests further study of the mass-transport characteristics of the organic compounds at the electrode-electrolyte interface.