Kim AR  Park HJ  Won YS  Lee TY  Lee JK  Lim JH

Vol. 22,  No. 1, pp. 16-28, Mar.  2016
10.7464/ksct.2016.22.1.016

Electrochemical treatment Water treatment Dye wastewater Anode materials CI Direct Blue 15

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Textile industry is considered as one of the most polluting sectors in terms of effluent composition and volume of discharge. It is well known that the effluents from textile dying industry contain not only chromatic substances but also large amounts of organic compounds and insolubles. The azo dyes generate huge amount of pollutions among many types of pigments. In general, the electrochemical treatments, separating colors and organic materials by oxidation and reduction on electrode surfaces, are regarded as simpler and faster processes for removal of pollutants compared to other wastewater treatments. In this paper the electrochemical degradation characteristics of dye wastewater containing CI Direct Blue 15 were analyzed. The experiments were performed with various anode materials, such as RuO2/Ti, PtO2/Ti, IrO2/Ti and graphite, with stainless steel for cathode. The optimal anode material was located by changing operating conditions like electrolyte concentration, current density, reaction temperature and initial pH. The degradation efficiency of dye wastewater increased in proportion to the electrolyte concentration and the current density for all anode materials, while the temperature effect was dependent on the kind. The performance orders of anode materials were RuO2/Ti > PtO2/Ti > IrO2/Ti > graphite in acid condition and RuO2/Ti > IrO2/Ti > PtO2/Ti > graphite in neutral and basic conditions. As a result, RuO2/Ti demonstrated the best performance as an anode material for the electrochemical treatment of dye wastewater.