The carbon‐felt flow‐through electrode in waste water treatment: The case of mercury (II) electrodeposition

Abstract This paper deals with the utilization of carbon felt flow‐through electrodes for the removal of mercury (II) from contaminated brines. Correlations between the product a∗km (where a∗ is the specific surface area and km is the mass transfer coefficient) and the flow rate are established for various thicknesses of carbon felt. These correlations allow the calculation of the electrochemical reactor size in given chemical and hydrodynamic conditions. The efficiency of the carbon felt (up to 97% at a flow rate of 36 m.h−1) is compared to that of other three‐dimensional electrode materials and this electrode is shown to be the most efficient. Application to very dilute solutions leads to slightly lower electro‐deposition yields (90 % at a flow rate of 36 m.h−1 and at the 100 μg.l−1 level).