Comparative study on electrode materials for electrochemical disinfection of reclaimed water

JIANG Chengxu; XU Chenyang; HUANG Xia

doi:10.13205/j.hjgc.202610006

Volume 44 Issue 10

Oct. 2026

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JIANG Chengxu, XU Chenyang, HUANG Xia. Comparative study on electrode materials for electrochemical disinfection of reclaimed water[J]. ENVIRONMENTAL ENGINEERING , 2026, 44(10): 57-66. doi: 10.13205/j.hjgc.202610006

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JIANG Chengxu, XU Chenyang, HUANG Xia. Comparative study on electrode materials for electrochemical disinfection of reclaimed water[J]. ENVIRONMENTAL ENGINEERING , 2026, 44(10): 57-66. doi: 10.13205/j.hjgc.202610006

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Comparative study on electrode materials for electrochemical disinfection of reclaimed water

doi: 10.13205/j.hjgc.202610006

State Key Laboratory of Regional Environment and Sustainability, School of Environment, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China

Received Date: 2026-07-28
Available Online: 2026-11-10

Abstract

Abstract

Electrochemical disinfection is highly adaptable to variations in water quality and flow rate， and offers considerable flexibility in reactor configuration and operation， making it a novel and promising green disinfection technology. However， for low-conductivity reclaimed water， the suitability of different electrode materials and the underlying mechanisms of virus inactivation remain insufficiently understood. This study investigated the disinfection performance of four commercial porous electrode materials against the enveloped viral surrogate Phi6 and the non-enveloped viral surrogate T4. Carbon fiber felt （CFF） anodes achieved more than 6-log efficient inactivation for Phi6 and T4 at an applging voltage of 3 V and 4 V， respectively. At 6 V， CFF caused significant structural damage （>4 log） to both surrogates and reduced total nucleic acids by 0.9~2.3 log. CFF exhibited the strongest virus inactivation， structural damage， and genome removal， making it the optimal electrode material for electrochemical disinfection of low-conductivity reclaimed water. In addition， neither free chlorine species nor radical chlorine species （RaCS） generated at the anode alone achieved efficient virus inactivation. Instead， their synergistic action constituted the dominant electrode mechanism of electrochemical disinfection. Above all， our study demonstrated that electrochemical disinfection can effectively disinfect viruses in reclaimed water and is a technically feasible approach for controlling viral transmission risks.
- disinfection,
- virus,
- electrode material,
- active chlorine species,
- disinfection indicator

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References(26)

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