Electrochemical Removal of Hexavalent Chromium from Wastewater
Summary
Hexavalent chromium (Cr(VI)) is a highly toxic and soluble form of chromium commonly discharged from electroplating, leather tanning and textile industries. Exposure to Cr(VI) poses serious health risks, including carcinogenic and mutagenic effects, prompting stringent regulatory limits on its concentration in effluents. Electrochemical removal techniques harness direct or mediated electron transfer at electrodes to reduce Cr(VI) to the less soluble and less toxic trivalent form (Cr(III)), which can then precipitate or be separated by simple downstream processes. Key advantages of electrochemical methods include on-site operation, minimal chemical addition, tunable reaction rates via current density and potential control, and the potential for resource recovery. Advances in electrode design—ranging from iron sacrificial anodes in electrocoagulation to functionalised carbon felts and redox-active polymer composites—have improved removal efficiency, energy consumption and process stability. Emerging strategies employ alternating current waveforms, flow-through cell configurations and surface modifications to overcome limitations such as cathodic fouling and coulombic repulsion of anionic chromate species. Overall, electrochemical approaches offer modular, scalable and environmentally benign routes to meet increasingly tight discharge standards and to safeguard water quality on a global scale.
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Electrochemical Removal of Hexavalent Chromium from Wastewater publication trend
The graph below shows the total number of articles in electrochemical removal of hexavalent chromium from wastewater across all publications each year (not limited to Nature Index journals).
Technical terms
Hexavalent chromium (Cr(VI)): A highly soluble, toxic oxidation state of chromium that poses carcinogenic and mutagenic risks in water.
Electrochemical reduction: The process of gaining electrons at a cathode to convert Cr(VI) into the less soluble and less toxic Cr(III).
Current density: The electric current per unit electrode area, a key parameter controlling reduction rate and energy efficiency.
Coulombic repulsion: The electrostatic force that can hinder anionic species, such as chromate, from reaching a negatively charged cathode surface.
Asymmetric alternating current: A waveform with differing positive and negative biases and duty cycles, used to enhance mass transport and suppress side reactions in electrochemical cells.
References
- Efficient Removal of Hexavalent Chromium from Wastewater with Electro-Reduction. Processes (2019).
- Asymmetric Alternative Current Electrochemical Method Coupled with Amidoxime-Functionalized Carbon Felt Electrode for Fast and Efficient Removal of Hexavalent Chromium from Wastewater. Nanomaterials (2023).
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