The electrochemical reduction to nitrate in low conductivity aqueous solutions

This thesis investigates the effects of the initial reaction pH, the initial nitrate concentration and the working electrode on the electrochemical reduction of nitrate in a low conductivity aqueous solution. The ranges tested were at an initial pH of 7 and 9, and an initial concentration of 100 ppm nitrate and 500 ppm nitrate. Experiments were conducted under conditions of constant current and constant voltage. A full factorial analysis was done on the data. The most significant factor observed was found to be the copper electrode while very little reduction took place using a carbon-felt electrode. The reaction seemed to stop as the nitrate concentration increased. A possible reason being the reaction did not have an appropriate voltage and current levels. Additional experiments were conducted to test the effects of sulfate and chloride ions as possible electrolytes; however these ions did not appear to help the reaction.