JOURNAL OF YANGTZE RIVER SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH INSTI ›› 2015, Vol. 32 ›› Issue (6): 49-52.DOI: 10.3969/j.issn.1001-5485.2015.06.009

• WATER POLLUTION CONTROL • Previous Articles     Next Articles

Mechanism and Influence Factors of Electrolytic Degradation of Urea by Low-amperage Electric Current

LIN Li1,2, XIE Wen-jing1,2, LI Qing-yun1,2, ZHAO Liang-yuan1,2, WU Min1,2, FENG Cong1,2   

  1. 1.Basin Water Environment Research Department, Yangtze River Scientific Research Institute, Wuhan 430010, China;
    2. Hubei Provincial Key Laboratory of Basin Water Resource and Eco-environmental Sciences, Yangtze River Scientific Research Institute, Wuhan 430010, China
  • Received:2015-04-02 Online:2015-06-20 Published:2015-06-04

Abstract: In this research, urea in swimming pools was treated by low-amperage electric current, and the influence factors including current density and chloride ion concentration and the mechanism of electrolytic removal of urea were investigated. Results indicated that urea was oxidized by active chlorine which was produced when there was high concentration of chloride ion in the solution with ruthenium-titanium as anode material and stainless steel as cathode material. No harmful by-product such as ammonia nitrogen or chloramines was produced. Urea possibly degraded into gases like N2 and volatilized into the air. Current density and chloride ion concentration have great effect on the efficiency of urea removal. The removal of urea increased with the rise of current density and chloride ion concentration. Urea removal rate reached 99.5% at current density of 12 mA/cm2 and chloride ion concentration of 400 mg/L by 30 min electrolytic treatment. Due to the high removal rate of urea by electrolysis treatment with no need of electrolyte, electrolytic removal of urea by low-amperage electric current is feasible for swimming pool water treatment.

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