Design of parallel plate electrocoagulation reactors supplied by photovoltaic system applied to water treatment

Abstract Coagulation and flocculation are two fundamental steps in the water purification process, since they neutralize colloidal particles (impurities). The addition of aluminum sulphate, Al 2 ( SO 4 ) 3 , increases the level of water treatment, which is applied in conventional water treatment plants (WTPs). However, in many countries, the WTPs are not available to serve the entire population, due to political and structural problems. For these reasons, several works propose alternatives for the conventional WTPs. In this sense, an autonomous electrocoagulation system (AES) for water treatment supplied by a photovoltaic (PV) system is proposed in this work. This treatment process can be installed in any location which satisfactory irradiation levels. The system is supplied by a PV system, integrated to a battery bank. The AES integration is realized by two stages, integrated with buck converters. The first stage performs the connection between the PV panel and the battery bank. The second stage connects the battery bank to the electrocoagulator. A response surface methodology is used to develop mathematical models able to predict the percent of color and turbidity removal from a water sample. In addition, the correlation between the output variables allows researchers to find the optimal conditions for input variables, to determine an efficient electrolytic treatment operation. Experimental results in a test bench showed that the system reached 88% and 90% of color and turbidity removal, respectively.