ELECTROCHEMICAL DEGRADATION OF SURFACTANTS IN DOMESTIC WASTEWATER USING A DIACLEAN ® CELL EQUIPPED WITH BORON-DOPED DIAMOND ELECTRODE

Although some traditional water treatment processes have been proposed for domestic and industrial water reclamation, these are often inadequate, ineffective, or expensive. Within this context, electrochemical technologies have become a promising tool for the treatment of wastewater contaminated by organic pollutants as surfactants. This work carried out the electrochemical degradation of surfactants present in domestic wastewater, using a DiaClean® cell, in a recirculation system, equipped with a boron-doped diamond (BDD) anode and stainless-steel as cathode. The effect of the flow rate (flow = 1.5, 4.0, 7.0 L min-1) and current density (j = 7, 14, 20, 30, 40, 50 mA cm-2) was studied. The degradation was followed by the concentration of surfactants, chemical oxygen demand (COD), and turbidity, also pH value, conductivity, and temperature were evaluated. Finally, the mineralization was followed by total organic carbon (TOC) under optimal operating conditions.