Overview of Electrochemical Method in the Treatment of Municipal Sewage
Liping Sun, Jianqiang Yang, Yusheng Niu
Abstract
The discharge of municipal sewage has been increasing gradually, causing great harm to the ecological environment. The study of municipal sewage treatment has received increased attention. The recent research progress of municipal sewage detection, treatment and reuse methods, are reviewed. However, each method has its own limitations, such as incomplete treatment, high cost and secondary pollution. This review focus on the electrochemical methods and its applications in the treatment of municipal sewage, including contaminant detection, removal of organic matter, nitrogen, phosphorus, microbial, heavy metal, and degradation of drug residues. The results from the present review demonstrate that the electrochemical technology is an advanced method for municipal sewage treatment due to the advantages of easy-operating, environmental protection and strong universality. Moreover, various new electrode materials, such as graphene, precious metals and polymers are innovated continuously, which lay a good foundation for the application of electrochemical method in municipal sewage treatment. However, some problems still exist in the industrialization of technology, comprehensive treatment of pollutants and degradation capacity of individual pollutants. Herein, some suggestions are proposed for further work of electrochemical treatment in municipal wastewater.