Electro-oxidation

Electro-oxidation (EO or EOx), also known as anodic oxidation or electrochemical oxidation (EC), is a technique used for wastewater treatment, mainly for industrial effluents, and is a type of advanced oxidation process (AOP). The most general layout comprises two electrodes, operating as anode and cathode, connected to a power source. When an energy input and sufficient supporting electrolyte are provided to the system, strong oxidizing species are formed, which interact with the contaminants and degrade them. The refractory compounds are thus converted into reaction intermediates and, ultimately, into water and CO₂ by complete mineralization.

Electro-oxidation has recently grown in popularity thanks to its ease of set-up and effectiveness in treating harmful and recalcitrant organic pollutants, which are typically difficult to degrade with conventional wastewater remediation processes. Also, it does not require any external addition of chemicals (contrary to other processes), as the required reactive species are generated at the anode surface.

Electro-oxidation has been applied to treat a wide variety of harmful and non-biodegradable contaminants, including aromatics, pesticides, drugs and dyes. Due to its relatively high operating costs, it is often combined with other technologies, such as biological remediation. Electro-oxidation can additionally be paired with other electrochemical technologies such as electrocoagulation, consecutively or simultaneously, to further reduce operational costs while achieving high degradation standards.