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Iron Electrocoagulation Process for Disinfecting Water – A Review

Received: 24 September 2019     Accepted: 12 October 2019     Published: 23 October 2019
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Abstract

During the last two decades, electrocoagulation (EC) process has known a large success as an electrodisinfection (ED) technology especially if iron (Fe) electrodes are used instead of aluminum ones as sacrificial anodes. This review discusses the pertinent findings of the Delaire et al. excellent work who focused on microbes removal via Fe-EC and attracted the attention on the interactions between bacterial phosphate groups and Fe (III) precipitates. Employing the model indicator Escherichia coli, physical elimination through enmeshment in EC precipitate flocs was shown the main procedure of bacteria reduction in the existence of HCO3-, which importantly prevents demobilization, probably because of a decrease in the lifetime of reactive oxidants. The fixation of EC precipitates onto cell membranes, which leads to microbes’ encapsulation in flocs, is directed firstly via interactions among EC precipitates and phosphate functional groups on bacteria surfaces. EC precipitate fixation is greatly independent of cell membrane composition, consistent with comparable densities of phosphate functional groups on Gram-positive and Gram-negative cells. Such findings are crucial to anticipate the efficiency of Fe-EC to remove bacterial pollutants from the water with changing chemical compositions. In spite of the huge advances in studying the EC process as an ED technique, considerable efforts remain to be performed to reach its better acceptation in the industrial world.

Published in Applied Engineering (Volume 3, Issue 2)
DOI 10.11648/j.ae.20190302.22
Page(s) 154-158
Creative Commons

This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, provided the original work is properly cited.

Copyright

Copyright © The Author(s), 2019. Published by Science Publishing Group

Keywords

Electrocoagulation (EC), Electrodisinfection (ED), Iron, Bacteria, Cell Wall, Gram-positive and Gram-negative Cells

References
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  • APA Style

    Djamel Ghernaout, Noureddine Elboughdiri. (2019). Iron Electrocoagulation Process for Disinfecting Water – A Review. Applied Engineering, 3(2), 154-158. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ae.20190302.22

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    ACS Style

    Djamel Ghernaout; Noureddine Elboughdiri. Iron Electrocoagulation Process for Disinfecting Water – A Review. Appl. Eng. 2019, 3(2), 154-158. doi: 10.11648/j.ae.20190302.22

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    AMA Style

    Djamel Ghernaout, Noureddine Elboughdiri. Iron Electrocoagulation Process for Disinfecting Water – A Review. Appl Eng. 2019;3(2):154-158. doi: 10.11648/j.ae.20190302.22

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  • @article{10.11648/j.ae.20190302.22,
      author = {Djamel Ghernaout and Noureddine Elboughdiri},
      title = {Iron Electrocoagulation Process for Disinfecting Water – A Review},
      journal = {Applied Engineering},
      volume = {3},
      number = {2},
      pages = {154-158},
      doi = {10.11648/j.ae.20190302.22},
      url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ae.20190302.22},
      eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.ae.20190302.22},
      abstract = {During the last two decades, electrocoagulation (EC) process has known a large success as an electrodisinfection (ED) technology especially if iron (Fe) electrodes are used instead of aluminum ones as sacrificial anodes. This review discusses the pertinent findings of the Delaire et al. excellent work who focused on microbes removal via Fe-EC and attracted the attention on the interactions between bacterial phosphate groups and Fe (III) precipitates. Employing the model indicator Escherichia coli, physical elimination through enmeshment in EC precipitate flocs was shown the main procedure of bacteria reduction in the existence of HCO3-, which importantly prevents demobilization, probably because of a decrease in the lifetime of reactive oxidants. The fixation of EC precipitates onto cell membranes, which leads to microbes’ encapsulation in flocs, is directed firstly via interactions among EC precipitates and phosphate functional groups on bacteria surfaces. EC precipitate fixation is greatly independent of cell membrane composition, consistent with comparable densities of phosphate functional groups on Gram-positive and Gram-negative cells. Such findings are crucial to anticipate the efficiency of Fe-EC to remove bacterial pollutants from the water with changing chemical compositions. In spite of the huge advances in studying the EC process as an ED technique, considerable efforts remain to be performed to reach its better acceptation in the industrial world.},
     year = {2019}
    }
    

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  • TY  - JOUR
    T1  - Iron Electrocoagulation Process for Disinfecting Water – A Review
    AU  - Djamel Ghernaout
    AU  - Noureddine Elboughdiri
    Y1  - 2019/10/23
    PY  - 2019
    N1  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ae.20190302.22
    DO  - 10.11648/j.ae.20190302.22
    T2  - Applied Engineering
    JF  - Applied Engineering
    JO  - Applied Engineering
    SP  - 154
    EP  - 158
    PB  - Science Publishing Group
    SN  - 2994-7456
    UR  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ae.20190302.22
    AB  - During the last two decades, electrocoagulation (EC) process has known a large success as an electrodisinfection (ED) technology especially if iron (Fe) electrodes are used instead of aluminum ones as sacrificial anodes. This review discusses the pertinent findings of the Delaire et al. excellent work who focused on microbes removal via Fe-EC and attracted the attention on the interactions between bacterial phosphate groups and Fe (III) precipitates. Employing the model indicator Escherichia coli, physical elimination through enmeshment in EC precipitate flocs was shown the main procedure of bacteria reduction in the existence of HCO3-, which importantly prevents demobilization, probably because of a decrease in the lifetime of reactive oxidants. The fixation of EC precipitates onto cell membranes, which leads to microbes’ encapsulation in flocs, is directed firstly via interactions among EC precipitates and phosphate functional groups on bacteria surfaces. EC precipitate fixation is greatly independent of cell membrane composition, consistent with comparable densities of phosphate functional groups on Gram-positive and Gram-negative cells. Such findings are crucial to anticipate the efficiency of Fe-EC to remove bacterial pollutants from the water with changing chemical compositions. In spite of the huge advances in studying the EC process as an ED technique, considerable efforts remain to be performed to reach its better acceptation in the industrial world.
    VL  - 3
    IS  - 2
    ER  - 

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Author Information
  • Chemical Engineering Department, University of Ha’il, Ha’il, Saudi Arabia

  • Chemical Engineering Department, University of Ha’il, Ha’il, Saudi Arabia

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