Electrocoagulation of Silica Nanoparticles in Wafer Polishing Wastewater by a Multichannel Flow Reactor: A Kinetic Study

A simplistic and systematic procedure has been developed for the design and upscaling of a multichannel, continuous-flow electrocoagulation reactor of monopolar configuration for the removal of submicron particles from wastewater. Using wastewater generated from the chemical-mechanical planarization process as the target wastewater, a series of laboratory-scale studies were conducted to determine the required operating conditions for the efficient removal of the ultrafine silica particles. These operating criteria included charge loading (⩾8F∕m3), current density (⩾5.7A∕m2), hydraulic retention time (⩾60min), as well as the initial pH (7–10). Furthermore, a steady-state transport equation with second-order reaction kinetics was employed to describe the rate of coagulation as the rate-limiting factor. The actual kinetic constant determined from the laboratory-scale experiments was approximately 1.2×10−21m3∕s, which was three orders of magnitude smaller than that calculated based on Brownian coagulation. The model was subsequently validated with a series of experiments using a pilot-scale electrocoagulation reactor geometrically similar to the laboratory-scale reactor with nearly 20 times volumetric scaleup.