Influence of electrical field on COD removal and filterability of activated sludge

Three batch reactors were operated in order to investigate the effects of electrocoagulation and electrical field on chemical oxygen demand (COD) degradation rates, efficiencies, and filterability. The first reactor was operated with iron electrode, the second reactor was operated with relatively inert titanium electrode, and the last one was run as control without any electrical field. The electrical field application with iron electrodes increased the COD degradation rates at 0.5 and 2.5V/cm with COD removals around 90%. However, the removal efficiencies decreased down to 70% at 5V/cm. Increases in degradation rates were observed with titanium electrodes with time at all the three voltages. Activated sludge from the reactor with iron electrodes showed excellent filtration properties at 2.5 and 5V/cm experiments. This was attributed to iron precipitates screening membrane foulants and preventing the formation of high resistive cake layer and pore structure rather than floc size increase. Electrocoagulation showed promising results in reducing membrane fouling. A critical voltage gradient should be maintained and the magnitude of iron electrode dissolution should be controlled in the reactor to obtain optimum COD degradation and to enhance filterability. Sludge samples from reactor with titanium electrodes showed poor filterability as voltage gradient increased (at 5V/cm). This was attributed to the elevated soluble protein content (SMPp) concentration due to cell disruption.