Paper Title
Efficiency of Electrocoagulation Process Using Iron Electrode in Hospital Laundry Wastewater Pretreatment

Abstract
The aim of the present study was to assess the possibility of hospital laundry wastewater pretreatment by electrocoagulation process using iron electrodes. A total of 18 composite samples were taken from the effluent of a hospital laundry wastewater. After determining the quality of raw laundry wastewater, the wastewater was treated by electrocoagulation process with iron electrodes in different circumstances of pH, voltage and times. Process efficiency concerning the removal of chemical oxygen demand (COD), color, phosphate and surfactant was examined by standard methods. The analysis revealed that COD, phosphate and surfactants in hospital laundry wastewater were 815.1 � 113.1mgL-1, 1.05 � 0.07 mgL-1and 5.03 � 1.18 mgL-1, respectively and the mean concentration of color was 665.9 � 122.5 TCU. The optimal condition, reaction time was 60 min; voltage was 40 V; pH was neutral. Under optimal conditions, this process could remove 89.1, 77.8, 81 and 78% of COD, color, phosphate and surfactant, respectively. This study indicated that the efficiency removal of all parameters increased as the voltage and the contact time increased.Also, removal efficiency was more in neutral pH.Finally, electrocoagulation process with iron electrodes has a good efficiency for pretreating of hospital laundry wastewater. Keywords- Electrocoagulation, Wastewatertreatment, Laundry, Hospital