Electrochemical generation of free available chlorine in continuous flow process

Chlorine or its compounds are commonly used for
water/wastewater disinfection. These are, however, associated with transportation and storage hazards. It would be better to produce the disinfectant in situ to minimise transport and storage risks. This study evaluates the suitability of using titanium-based electrodes for the generation of free available chlorine (FAC) for water/wastewater disinfection in continuous flow process. A series of laboratory experiments were conducted at room temperature (27 ± 1 °C) in a one litre electrochemical cell. A statistical (factorial) design of experiments was adopted to evaluate the effect of operating parameters viz., flow rate, current density and chloride (Cl-)
concentration on FAC generation. The optimum pH for FAC
production was 5. FAC production was found to increase with
increase in chloride concentration & current density and
decrease with increase in flow rate. The highest amount of
FAC produced was 17.1 mg/L, 27.3 mg/L and 37.2 mg/L at
flow rates of 12 mL/min, 8mL/min and 4 mL/min respectively,
when the Cl- concentration was 100 mg/L and the current
density was 4 mA/cm2.