title: Treatment of highly concentrated tannery wastewater using electrocoagulation: Influence of the quality of aluminium used for the electrode.
abstract: This paper deals with the ability of electrocoagulation (EC) to remove simultaneously COD and chromium from a real chrome tanning wastewater in a batch stirred electro-coagulation cell provided with two aluminium-based electrodes (aluminium/copper/magnesium alloy and pure aluminium). Effects of operating time, current density and initial concentration of Cr(III) and COD have been investigated. The concentrations of pollutants have been successfully reduced to environmentally acceptable levels even if the concentrated effluent requires a long time of treatment of around 6h with a 400A/m(2) current density. The aluminium alloy was found to be more efficient than pure aluminium for removal of COD and chromium. Dilution of the waste has been tested for treatment: high abatement levels could be obtained with shorter time of treatment and lower current densities. Energy consumption of the electrocoagulation process was also discussed. The dilution by half of the concentrated waste leads to a higher abatement performance of both COD and chromium with the best energy efficiency.
authors.affiliation: Laboratoire d'Hydrobiologie, Ecotoxicologie et Assainissement (LHEA, URAC 33), Faculté de Sciences Semlalia, BP 2390, Université Cadi Ayyad, Marrakech, Morocco; Centre National d'Etude et de Recherche sur l'Eau et l'Energie (CNEREE), Université Cadi Ayyad, BP 511, Marrakech, Morocco.
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Elabbas
authors.affiliation: Laboratoire d'Hydrobiologie, Ecotoxicologie et Assainissement (LHEA, URAC 33), Faculté de Sciences Semlalia, BP 2390, Université Cadi Ayyad, Marrakech, Morocco; Centre National d'Etude et de Recherche sur l'Eau et l'Energie (CNEREE), Université Cadi Ayyad, BP 511, Marrakech, Morocco.
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Ouazzani
authors.affiliation: Laboratoire d'Hydrobiologie, Ecotoxicologie et Assainissement (LHEA, URAC 33), Faculté de Sciences Semlalia, BP 2390, Université Cadi Ayyad, Marrakech, Morocco; Centre National d'Etude et de Recherche sur l'Eau et l'Energie (CNEREE), Université Cadi Ayyad, BP 511, Marrakech, Morocco.
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Mandi
authors.affiliation: Equipe de Physico-chimie des Matériaux, Ecole Normale Supérieure, Université Cadi Ayyad, BP 2400, 40000 Marrakech, Morocco.
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Berrekhis
authors.affiliation: Laboratoire de Chimie Physique et Microbiologie pour l'Environnement (LCPME) UMR 7564, Université de Lorraine-CNRS, 405 rue de Vandœuvre, F-54602 Villers-lès Nancy Cedex, France.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Perdicakis
authors.affiliation: Laboratoire Réactions et Génie des Procédés (LRGP) UMR 7274, CNRS, Université de Lorraine, 1 rue Grandville, BP 20451, 54001 Nancy cedex, France.
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Pontvianne
authors.affiliation: Laboratoire Réactions et Génie des Procédés (LRGP) UMR 7274, CNRS, Université de Lorraine, 1 rue Grandville, BP 20451, 54001 Nancy cedex, France.
authors.forename: M-N
authors.initials: MN
authors.lastname: Pons
authors.affiliation: Laboratoire Réactions et Génie des Procédés (LRGP) UMR 7274, CNRS, Université de Lorraine, 1 rue Grandville, BP 20451, 54001 Nancy cedex, France.
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Lapicque
authors.affiliation: Laboratoire Réactions et Génie des Procédés (LRGP) UMR 7274, CNRS, Université de Lorraine, 1 rue Grandville, BP 20451, 54001 Nancy cedex, France. Electronic address: jean-pierre.leclerc@univ-lorraine.fr.
authors.forename: J-P
authors.initials: JP
authors.lastname: Leclerc
keywords: Aluminium electrodes; Chromium; Current density; Electrocoagulation; Tannery wastewater