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Development of an environmentally sustainable technique to minimize the sludge production in the textile effluent sector through an electrokinetic (EK) coupled with electrooxidation (EO) approach

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Abstract

This study presents an environmentally sustainable method for minimizing sludge production in the textile effluent sector through the combined application of electrokinetic (EK) and electrooxidation (EO) processes. AAS and XRF analyses reveal that utilizing acidic electrolytes in the EK method successfully eliminates heavy metals (Cu, Mn, Zn, and Cr) from sludge, demonstrating superior efficiency compared to alkaline conditions. In addition, the total removal efficiency of COD contents was calculated following the order of EK-3 (60%), EK-1 (51%) and EK-2 (34%). Notably, EK-3, leveraging pH gradient fluctuations induced by anolyte in the catholyte reservoir, outperforms other EK systems in removing COD from sludge. The EK process is complemented by the EO process, leading to further degradation of dye and other organic components through the electrochemical generation of hypochlorite (940 ppm). At an alkaline pH of 10.0, the color and COD removal were effectively achieved at 98 and 70% in EO treatment, compared to other mediums. In addition, GC–MS identified N-derivative residues at the end of the EO. This study demonstrates an integrated approach that effectively eliminates heavy metals and COD from textile sludge, combining EK with EO techniques.

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Acknowledgements

The authors express their sincere appreciation to the Researchers Supporting Project Number (RSP2024R68) King Saud University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. A. Rajasekar was supported by TANSCHE-RGP project (RGP/2019-20/TVU/HECP-0059). Dr Dhandapani. P. thanks to D.S. Kothari postdoctoral Fellowship (Normal) (File.No.F.4-2/2006 (BSR) BL/17-18/0343) by University Grants Commission (UGC), New Delhi, India.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Environmental Molecular Microbiology Research Laboratory, Department of Biotechnology, Thiruvalluvar University, Serkkadu, Vellore, Tamil Nadu, 632115, India

    Perumal Dhandapani, Venkatesan Srinivasan & Aruliah Rajasekar

  2. Department of Biotechnology, Faculty of Science and Humanities, SRM Institute of Science and Technology, Kattankulathur, Chennai, Tamil Nadu, 603 203, India

    Punniyakotti Parthipan

  3. Department of Physics and Astronomy, College of Science, King Saud University, P. O. Box 2455, 11451, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia

    Mohamad S. AlSalhi & Sandhanasamy Devanesan

  4. Department of Environmental and Water Resources Engineering, School of Civil Engineering (SCE), Vellore Institute of Technology, Vellore, Tamil Nadu, 632014, India

    Jayaraman Narenkumar

  5. Organic Materials Synthesis Lab, School of Chemical Engineering, Yeungnam University, Gyeongsan-si, 38541, Republic of Korea

    Rajaram Rajamohan

  6. Indian Reference Materials (BND) Division, CSIR-National Physical Laboratory, Dr. K S Krishnan Marg, New Delhi, 110012, India

    Varathan Ezhilselvi

  7. Adjunct Faculty, Department of Prothodontics, Saveetha Dental Collge and Hospital, Chennai, Tamil Nadu, 600 077, India

    Aruliah Rajasekar

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  1. Perumal Dhandapani
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  2. Venkatesan Srinivasan
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  3. Punniyakotti Parthipan
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  4. Mohamad S. AlSalhi
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  5. Sandhanasamy Devanesan
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  6. Jayaraman Narenkumar
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  9. Aruliah Rajasekar
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Contributions

PD was contributed to experimental work, field collection, writing—original draft. VS was contributed to experimental work, field collection; PP was contributed to validation, result Interpretation. MSA was contributed to validation, formal analysis, funding. SD was contributed to writing—review and editing, validation; JN was contributed to validation, result interpretation; RR was contributed to validation; VE was contributed to validation; AR was contributed to project administration, supervision, validation, writing—review and editing.

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Correspondence to Rajaram Rajamohan or Aruliah Rajasekar.

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Dhandapani, P., Srinivasan, V., Parthipan, P. et al. Development of an environmentally sustainable technique to minimize the sludge production in the textile effluent sector through an electrokinetic (EK) coupled with electrooxidation (EO) approach. Environ Geochem Health 46, 81 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10653-023-01847-7

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