Resumen en español

By means of this study was determined if the electrocoagulation technique helps to minimize the nickel and organic matter, chemical oxygen demand (COD) concentration, present in wastewaters from automotive industry. A randomized multilevel factorial experimental design was used; being the current density and reaction time evaluated in three levels, while the separation between electrodes was analyzed at two levels. Electrocoagulation was carried out in a batch reactor using iron electrodes with monopolar arrangement. The acid digestion, atomic absorption air-acetylene flame and the closed reflux-colorimetric (micro COD) analytical techniques were used to determine the content of the contaminants. The conditions where it got the most decontamination of the water analyzed were found; being the Applied current density: 1,04 A/dm2, operative time: 17 minutes y; did not the electrode separation influence. The results show that electrocoagulation could be effective to reduce nickel and organic matter (COD) present in wastewaters from automotive industry.