Comparative Study on the Treatment of Berberine Wastewater by Chemical- and Electro-Coagulation Processes: Zeta Potential Analysis

The comparative study on treating the berberine pharmaceutical wastewater by chemical-coagulation and electro-coagulation was carried out, and the Zeta potential, ζ was analyzed to reveal the coagulation mechanisms. The results indicated that electro-coagulation and pulse electro-coagulation could be more effective than traditional chemical-coagulation for berberine removal from wastewater: the removal efficiencies of electro-coagulation and pulse electro-coagulation processes reached above 87.6%, while the removal efficiencies were lower than 35% for the PFS and PAC coagulations. The ζ potential analysis revealed that charge neutralization was the main mechanisms for berberine removal.