The reuse of cooling tower blowdown (CTBD) in the cooling tower itself requires CTBD deionization and a pre-treatment before deionization to remove organic compounds (OCs) that induce membrane fouling. This study assesses the potential of electrochemical oxidation (EO) with a boron-doped diamond (BDD) and a Ti/RuO₂ mixed-metal oxide (MMO) anode for CTBD pre-treatment. Also, the influence of the applied current density (j), initial pH, hydrodynamic conditions, and supporting electrolyte on the process performance was evaluated. Results show that COD and TOC removal were 85 and 51%, respectively, with the BDD-anode; however, they were 50 and 12% with MMO-anode at a j-value of 8.7 mA cm⁻² and neutral pH. An increased j-value increased the COD and TOC removal; however, different pHs, hydrodynamic conditions, and the addition of supporting electrolytes had a minor impact on the removal with both anodes. Liquid chromatography-organic carbon detection analysis showed that the OC in CTBD mainly consisted of humic substances (HS). EO with the BDD-anode resulted in 35% HS mineralization, while the rest of the HS were partially oxidized into low molecular weight compounds and building blocks. However, HS mineralization was limited with the MMO-anode. The mineralization and oxidation were accompanied by the formation of organic and inorganic chlorinated species. These species increased the toxicity to Vibrio fischeri 20-fold compared to the initially low-toxic CTBD. Thus, EO with a BDD-anode is a promising pre-treatment technology for the removal of OCs before CTBD deionization, but measures to minimize the chlorinated species formation are required before its application.

冷却塔本身中冷却塔排污（CTBD）的重新使用需要CTBD去离子和去离子前的预处理，以去除引起膜污染的有机化合物（OCs）。这项研究评估了用硼掺杂金刚石（BDD）和Ti / RuO ₂混合金属氧化物（MMO）阳极进行CTBD预处理的电化学氧化（EO）的潜力。此外，评估了施加的电流密度（j），初始pH值，流体动力学条件和支持电解质对工艺性能的影响。结果表明，BDD阳极的COD和TOC去除率分别为85％和51％。然而，它们的MMO阳极的j值为8.7 mA cm ^-2和中性pH分别为50％和12％。j增加值增加了COD和TOC的去除；但是，不同的pH值，流体动力学条件以及支持电解质的添加对两个阳极的去除影响不大。液相色谱-有机碳检测分析表明，CTBD中的OC主要由腐殖质（HS）组成。带有BDD阳极的EO导致35％的HS矿化，而其余的HS被部分氧化为低分子量化合物和结构单元。然而，MMO阳极限制了HS的矿化。矿化和氧化伴随着有机和无机氯化物的形成。这些物种增加了对费氏弧菌的毒性与最初的低毒CTBD相比，是原来的20倍。因此，具有BDD阳极的EO是一种有前途的预处理技术，用于在CTBD去离子之前去除OC，但是在应用之前需要采取措施以最大程度减少氯化物的形成。