Evaluation The Performance of 4-Chlorophenol Removal from Contaminated Waters Using a Monopolar Electrochemical Cell

4-chlorophenol is one of the chlorinated phenolic compounds that are like to other phenolic compounds is toxic to organisms and can accumulate in their bodies biologically. So far, a variety of methods are used in order to remove these contaminants from water and wastewater. The aim of this study was to evaluate the performance of an electrochemical system to the removal of 4-chlorophenol from contaminated waters.
This is an experimental study where a 500 ml electrochemical cell was used that consist of stainless steel as anode and graphite as cathode. The effect of some factors included pH, current density, initial concentrations of 4-chlorophenol, the concentration of salts NaCl and Na2SO4 as supporting electrolyte and the effect of the duration of the electrolysis process were examined.
There were direct relationship between 4-chlorophenol removal efficiency and pH, current density, and supporting electrolyte concentration. With the raising of 4-chlorophenol initial concentration, the removal efficiency was decreased. The best performance of 4-chlorophenol removal efficiency (over 99%) was gained at pH 11, current density of 10 mA/cm2, and NaCl and Na2SO4 concentrations of 20 and 3.5 mM, respectively.
Electrochemical technology is able to remove the 4-chlorophenol with high efficiency from contaminated waters. It is possible to use this technics to remove the content of 4-chlorophenol when there are the right amounts of soluble salts as supporting electrolyte. In this way, there is the possibility of achieving more than 99% efficiency of removal of the 4-chlorophenol.