A solar powered direct current electrocoagulation system with hydrogen recovery for wastewater treatment

The operation of a tube-in-tube electrocoagulator powered directly by photovoltaic solar panel with simultaneous hydrogen production for dye decolorization was illustrated. It has been shown that a method of adjusting the dye wastewater feed flow rate to the fluctuating PV output current is effective for retaining high decolorization of Reactive Blue 21 (>97% color removal) even though the PV output current varied between 2 and 8.5 A with instantaneous changes in solar radiation. The hydrogen product from the oxidation-reduction reactions can be harvested and was found to be 70% of the theoretical amount.