AWWA WQTC71508

Adverse effects of high nitrate concentration in drinking water have been reported in the literature. The objective of this poster paper research was to study the reduction of nitrate using electrochemically developed pitting corrosion on zero-valent aluminum. The experiments used a standard corrosion cell with an aluminum electrode as the working electrode, a platinum mesh as the counter electrode and a sodium standard calomel electrode (NaSCE). The pitting potentials for aluminum at various nitrate concentrations were determined through potentiodynamic scan at a rate of 1 mV/s. Once the pitting potentials for aluminum were determined, galvanostatic (constant current) experiments were conducted to observe the ability of aluminum to reduce nitrate. Complete removal of nitrate was achieved with nitrate getting reduced to ammonium ion. Experiments indicated that the rate of nitrate reduction was directly proportional to the applied current as long as the applied potential was above the pitting potential.