Performance of a two Chambers Reactor for the Treatment of an Oily Effluent by Electro flocculation

This work had as objective the development and analysis of a continuum flow reactor and measure its efficiency in the treatment of residual water of the biodiesel purification process using electro flocculation. The reactor was designed with two interconnected chambers with an 0.2 cm opening between then and reaction volume was 0.883 L and an electrolytic area of 351 cm². The electrodes were all aluminum, which were arranged in parallel and with 0.5 cm spacing, whose power was supplied by a DC source. As design variables, the influence of electrical potential (U) and residence time (τ) on: current density, final pH, removal of oils and greases, COD (Chemical Oxygen Demand), turbidity and total solids, in addition to quantification of the sludge mass obtained and the energy cost of the reactor. The best performance was for a potential of 6.0 volts and a τ of 29.43 min, with 90% removal of oils and greases, 53% COD and 4.38 g of sludge, culminating in an energy consumption ranging from 0.708 kWhm-3 to 4.73 kWhm-3. In addition, by visual analysis of the formation of bubbles and the removal of turbidity (94%), it was concluded that the division of the reactor in two chambers reduced the secondary contamination of the treated effluent.