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A novel electro-chlorinator using low cost graphite electrode for drinking water disinfection

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Abstract

A unique electro-chlorination reactor was designed with six numbers each of cylindrical shaped graphite anodes and stainless steel cathodes. A series of experiments were run in the laboratory scale applying lower current densities. Maximum active chlorine concentration of 0.75 mg/l was obtained at an optimum current density of 1.5 mA/cm2 from an available chloride concentration of 8.5 mg/l found naturally in the tap water. It was observed that with an increase in the current density, there was a marked decrease of chloride conversion from 50 to 42%. The maximum chloride conversion rate of 57.3% was achieved corresponding to an electrolysis time of 30 min. There was no marked change in pH after the electrolysis which may be attributed to the neutralization of hydroxyl ions generated at the cathode with the protons spitted at the anode. A maximum energy consumption of 0.083 kWh/m3 was required for generating a maximum active chlorine concentration of 2 mg/l from chloride concentration of 50 mg/l added externally in the water. After a continuous operation of 3 months, it was found that the graphite electrodes were corroded at the rate of 0.005 mm/h. A strong positive Pearson correlation of 0.988 was obtained among the parameters current density, chloride concentration, time, pH and active chlorine, whereas a negative correlation coefficient of −0.902 was obtained between electrolysis time and formation rate of active chlorine. The present work provides a simple reactor design strategy to use affordable graphite electrodes in the field application of electrochemical point of use of drinking water disinfection.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Environmental Science and Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology (Indian School of Mines), Dhanbad, Jharkhand, India

    Jayeeta Saha & Sunil Kumar Gupta

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  1. Jayeeta Saha
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  2. Sunil Kumar Gupta
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Correspondence to Jayeeta Saha.

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Saha, J., Gupta, S.K. A novel electro-chlorinator using low cost graphite electrode for drinking water disinfection. Ionics 23, 1903–1913 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11581-017-2022-0

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