Kinetic Modelling of Nitrate Removal from Ground Water Using Electrocoagulation

High nitrate contamination in drinking water is a serious environmental problem, as it is generally a problem associated with anthropogenic activities. Sources of nitrate pollution include discharge of chemical fertilizers, human and animal wastes. Excessive application of agricultural fertilizers has been known to cause penetration of large quantities of nitrates into underground and surface waters. Several wells in Syrian Arab country was closed because it polluted with NO3- concentrations higher than the allowing concentration according to Syrian Standard Specification. This study focuses on the prediction of mathematical model that describes the nitrate removal from ground water by means of electrocoagulation technique. The nitrate removal was modeled by applying the kinetic reaction rate equations. The experimental part of this study was implied to investigate the performance of nitrate removal from Ground Water by utilizing an electrochemical method (i.e. electrocoagulation). Experiments were carried out to treat ground water samples from Aleppo university with NO3- concentration 71 mg/l through batchwise mode. The nitrates removal from ground water was studied as a function of the electrocoagulation time, and the applied current density with iron MP-P connected electrodes.The result showed that more than 88% of NO3- has been removed within 60 minutes by applying current density 2 mA/cm2.The theoretical part of this study was attempted to conform the nitrate removal data to Langergren pseudo first order, Ho pseudo second order kinetic models depending on correlation coefficient. Based on, it has been found that the NO3- electrocoagulation with ferric(III) hydroxides adsorbent can be extremely represented by the pseudo second order reaction kinetic model.

Keywords:

NO3- removal , Electrocoagulation , kinetic models , Ground Water Treatment