Evaluation of Electrosorption Process for Phosphate and Nitrate Removal from Wastewater

Abstract

The present work is dedicated to the preparation and characterization of carbon-based electrodes for the removal of phosphates and nitrate ions from wastewater by CDI method. Carbons obtained from the pyrolysis were used to prepare electrodes and these electrodes were characterized using a number of experimental techniques. Based on the experimental results, the electrodes showed a strong affinity towards the nitrates than phosphates. This was evident from the kinetic constants and significantly higher capacity of electrosorption. At 1mM solutions, representative of a typical wastewater, nitrate exhibited about 3.5 times higher concentration than phosphates on a molar basis. The electrodes were reasonably stable under low concentrations of nitrates. At higher concentrations, the electrodes were not completely regenerable when the desorption step was carried out at 0V. These results are covered in this manuscript.
Keywords: CDI, Electrosorption, wastewater, cyclic voltammetry.