Resources, Conservation and Recycling 26 (1999) 115 – 124 Electrochemical remediation of copper (II) from an industrial effluent Part I: monopolar plate electrodes Carlo Solisio a , Marco Panizza b, *, Piergiorgio Paganelli c , Giacomo Cerisola b a Institute of Chemical Engineering, Engineering Faculty, Genoa Uniersity, ia Opera Pia 15, 16145 Genoa, Italy b Chemical Institute, Engineering Faculty, Genoa Uniersity, J.F.Kennedy 1 sq., 16129 Genoa, Italy c Organic Chemicals s.r.l., Piazza dell Vittoria 10, 17056 Cengio, Saona, Italy Accepted 24 November 1998 Abstract Many studies indicate that flow-through reactors with three-dimensional electrodes can be successfully used for metal removal from dilute streams, but they present high capital costs. So the simplest titanium and stainless steel AISI 904L plate were chosen as cathode materials in tank reactors. A three cell plant was used for cathodic deposition of copper from an industrial effluent containing copper (II). The influence of the flow rate and the initial copper concentration on the removal efficiency and current yield was studied. © 1999 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved. Keywords: Effluent copper removal; Plate electrode; Wastewater * Corresponding author. Tel.: +39-010-3536033; fax: +39-010-3536028. 0921-3449/99/$ - see front matter © 1999 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved. PII:S0921-3449(98)00078-0