A Staged Electrochemical–Cold Stabilization Strategy for Urban Fountain Water

Process Optimization, COD Reduction and Statistical Risk Stabilization

Angelos Kalafatas
Department of Chemistry, Democritus University of Thrace

DOI: 10.62579/JAGC0018

Abstract

Urban fountain water is a low- to moderate-strength urban water matrix characterized by continuous recirculation, partial stagnation, atmospheric deposition and episodic biological inputs. Conventional maintenance practices, including chlorination, filtration and periodic refilling, can improve visible water quality but may not adequately control organic-load variability or avoid secondary chemical impacts. This study presents a staged treatment strategy combining controlled electrochemical oxidation with a subsequent temperature-driven stabilization phase. Electrochemical processing was performed in a batch system equipped with a boron-doped diamond (BDD) anode and a Ti/Pt cathode. The selected operational window was 6 V, 8.86 mA cm⁻² and 15 min, with potassium iodide used as a conductivity-supporting additive and PVC evaluated as an auxiliary exploratory process material. The staged process decreased chemical oxygen demand (COD) from 45 to 11.65 mg L⁻¹, corresponding to a 74.2% reduction. A complementary statistical risk indicator, defined to account for both threshold exceedance probability and variability, decreased from 15.50 to 1.50, corresponding to a 90.3% reduction. The results indicate that deliberate process termination and low-energy post-treatment stabilization can improve both pollutant removal and operational reliability. The method is proposed as a practical and scalable concept for urban fountain water management, while further work should quantify microbial dynamics, possible by-products, microplastic release and full-scale energy demand.

Keywords: fountain water; electrochemical oxidation; boron-doped diamond; COD; potassium iodide; PVC; statistical risk; urban water management

A Staged Electrochemical Cold Stabilization Strategy for Urban Fountain Water