Electrocoagulation for ammonium removal in Nam Son landfill leachate

Abstract

In this paper, an electrocoagulation reactor was set up to investigate the ammonium
removal in Nam Son landfill leachate. The research focused on studying several factors that affect
to the ammonium removal namely current intensity, operating time, initial pH and electrode
materials. A mono-polar electrocoagulation reactor was set up in a batch system with iron
electrodes and 1.8 L leachate. The research indicated that current intensity and operating time are
directly proportional with NH4+ treatment performance. When applied current increased from 1 to
4A, the NH4+ removal percentage went up from 14.03 to 24.99% after a 1 hour treatment. The
effect of initial pH in range of 5 to 10 has showed that the best NH4+ treatment efficiency in
neutral and mild alkaline conditions. It is noticeable that iron electrodes had higher NH4+ removal
than aluminum one during nearly the first 40 min, however this trend has been reversed later with
the advantage belonging to aluminum anode. The optimum operating conditions found are
aluminum electrodes, applied current of 3A, electrolysis time of 60 min, raw pH of 8, resulting in
NH4+ treatment performance of approximately 24%. As a result, the electrocoagulation method is
not really effective in NH4+ removal and might be applied as a pre-treatment.
Keywords

Ammonium, electrocoagulation, landfill leachate, iron, aluminum, electrodes

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