New Study Shows Electric Fields Can Improve Wastewater Purification Efficiency

Air stripping converts ammonia into a gas that can escape the wastewater from its surface. But this process is energy-intensive, and requires specific temperatures, air supply and many chemicals, making it expensive. Addressing these drawbacks, in a study published in Water Research, researchers from South Korea have demonstrated that the simple application of an electric field during air stripping can substantially improve the efficiency of ammonia removal, even under suboptimal conditions. "So far, the removal of ammonia from wastewater was thought to be dependent on only pH, temperature and air supply. However, we have shown that an electrical field can also act as a modulator of this