Abstract
Electrocoagulation has been suggested as a promising alternative to conventional coagulation. The process is characterized by reduced sludge production, no requirement for chemical use, and ease of operation. However, this coagulation has scarcely been studied in water purifying process. This study was performed several batch experiments to compare turbidity removal between electrocoagulation and chemical coagulation. In addition, characteristics of floe were evaluated with zeta potential and particle size distributions. Electrocoagulation showed a relatively higher removal of turbidity (approximately 5%) with the same aluminum amount than conventional chemical coagulation. In addition, turbidity removal by electrocoagulation was less sensitive to pH and was greater for more extensive pH range than chemical coagulation. The results of zeta potential and floc size distributions illustrated that electrocoagulation provided the preferable conditions for coagulation such as zeta potential close to zero millivolt and increased portions of particles in the range of 40 and $100{\mu}m$.