Disinfecting Water: Electrocoagulation as an Efficient Process

Electrocoagulation (EC) process has been largely found efficient in terms of pathogens removal. This literature review focuses on describing the key killing microorganisms' pathway followed throughout the EC technique. The pathogens removal route using EC is deeply assessed following the practical experimentation realized during these last years. Physical elimination and chemical deactivation pathways are suggested for bacteria reduction procedure throughout the EC method employing Fe/Al anodes: (1) entrapping pathogens in flocs, (2) destabilizing negatively charged microbes through sweep flocculation, and (3) demobilizing bacteria cell envelopes upon electrochemically formed reactive oxygen species or direct impact of the electric field. Finally, deepest investigation works on microbes’ removal through EC are more called to promote the industrial applications of this performant technology