Desalination 230 (2008) 205–212 Evaluation of boron removal by electrocoagulation using iron and aluminum electrodes G. Sayiner a , F. Kandemirli b , A. Dimoglo a* a Gebze Institute of Technology, PO Box 14,1 Gebze/Kocaeli, 41400, Turkey Tel. +90 (262) 605-667; Fax: +90 (262) 653-8490; email: dimoglo@gyte.edu.tr b Department of Chemistry, Kocaeli University, Kocaeli, 41100, Turkey Received 9 February 2006; Accepted 18 October 2007 Abstract Boron compounds are used in the variety of products manufacturing and are introduced to the environment in the form of waste. Here the feasibility of the boron removal from wastewater by electrocoagulation (EC) is studied. Aluminum and iron were simultaneously used in the reactor as materials for cathode and anode. The results show that the EC process for boron removal strongly depends on the current density, initial concentrations, and time. The process is examined under varying indices in order to determine optimal operating conditions. It is important to note the EC application needs no chemical reagents and makes the boron-containing wastewater treatment easy for regulation and automation. Keywords: Electrocoagulation; Al/Fe electrode; Boron wastewater 1. Introduction Boron is an element that naturally occurs throughout the environment. Turkey and the United States are the world’s largest producers of boron. Turkey has the largest boron reserve in the world: about 63% of the world’s boron ores are in Turkey; the average boron ores production is about 1.3 billion tons per year [1]. The most important boron ores in Turkey are colemanite, *Corresponding author. ulexite and tincal. Products, such as borax, boric acid and sodium perborate, are obtained from these ores. But, the trommel sieve waste (TSW) forms in the reactor during the borax production from tincal. The amount of this waste is about 250,000 tons/year. The TSW contains some insol- uble and soluble boron minerals with clay. Discharged to land, this waste dissolves by rain water, and boron compounds pass to soil where they form some complexes with such heavy metals as Pb, Cu, Co, Ni, Cd, etc. Thus, the doi:10.1016/j.desal.2007.10.020 0011-9164/08/$– See front matter © 2008 Published by Elsevier B.V.