Question

Environmental chemistry for a sustainable world

Answer 1

This article reviews both the pollution by the electrochemical industry and the use of electrochemistry to clean water, air and soils. Main pollutants include Pd, Cd, Ni, Hg and other metals, SO2, CO2 and cyanide. The cause for water pollution by electrochemistry is due to the effluents from different electrochemical industries such as mercury from chlor-alkali industry; lead, cadmium and mercury from battery industry; heavy metals and organic contaminants from electroplating wastes; and contaminants from corrosion processes. Most pollutants can be successfully eliminated or converted to non-toxic materials by methods based on electrochemical principles. Electrochemical depolluting methods are mainly electrodialysis, electrocoagulation, electroflotation, anodic processes, cathodic processes, electrokinetic remediation, and electrochemical advanced oxidation processes.