Hospital Wastewater Treatment using Electrocoagulation Process in Comparison with Conventional Chemical Coagulation

Abstract

Wastewater from hospitals is regarded as one of the most hazardous forms of pollution. In addition to dangerous chemicals, pharmaceuticals, and radioactive isotopes, this effluent is polluted with pathogens, including bacteria, viruses, and parasites. It is critical to safeguard water supplies in Iraq which faces several climate-related challenges. As a product, before releasing pollutants into receiving waterways must be treated such as sewage and industrial effluent. Current research aims to investigate utilization of electrocoagulation (EC) for hospital wastewater treatment and compare with conventional coagulation (CC) in terms of removal efficiency and operational costs. In this study, influent wastewater samples were collected to determine the optimal conditions for Total dissolved Oxygen (TDS), Biochemical oxygen demand (BOD), Chemical oxygen demand (COD), Chloride (Cl), and Turbidity. For EC process, the TDS, BOD, COD, Cl, and Turbidity indicators' removal efficiency percentages obtained their highest levels with varying voltage amounts ranging from (10-25 volts), correspondingly ranging from (62% - 97.1%), (75.6% - 98.9%), (78.2% - 96.6%), (83.7% - 98.1%), and (74.1 - 97.4%). The results proved that the percentage of removal CC efficiency increases with an increase in the amount of Alum for all factors targeted and the optimal alum ratio is 15 g/L. The findings show that the EC process is appropriate for treating hospital wastewater, and that the old method is not beneficial.