Optimization of electrochemical treatment for actual coking wastewater: Evaluating BDD electrode efficiency and power supply modes

This study investigated the performance of boron-doped diamond (BDD) electrodes in treating actual coking wastewater, comparing them to traditional materials like PbO₂, Ti₄O₇, and RuO₂-IrO₂. We utilized comprehensive current efficiency (CCE) to evaluate current's role in reducing chemical oxygen demand (COD) over time, with both electrocatalytic oxidation and electroflotation considered as primary factors in removing COD from the liquid phase in this study. Comparisons of different electrodes and power supply modes revealed that current efficiency improved by controlling current variation parameters. The study emphasized the effectiveness of BDD electrode, particularly under various power supply modes such as constant current (CC), constant current-linear attenuation (CC-LA), exponential attenuation (EA), and constant current-exponential attenuation (CC-EA). Our findings revealed that BDD electrodes significantly outperform conventional materials, especially under the exponential attenuation (EA) power mode, which aligned the variations in current density with those of COD in the water.