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Based on pilot study results, electrocoagulation appeared to have the potential to removal all three targeted heavy metals cadmium, chromium and nickel to compliance levels. However, the systems reliability was a major concern. For example, although operation of the EC unit with iron plates was found to consistently remove chromium to below its regulatory limit under a broad range of pH values, cadmium removal was highly sensitive to the solution pH. While a pH of 6.9 was found to result in a noncompliance level of cadmium in the wastewater effluent, increasing the pH to 7.2 resulted in achieving regulatory compliance. Increasing the power to the EC unit was found to improve the overall treatment capability. However, as the power input increased, the EC was found to generate significant amounts of foam. This observation was not surprising since hydrolysis increases with power application leading to the formation of large amounts of hydrogen and oxygen gas. If there are significant concentrations of surfactant (i.e., organic) material in the wastewater, these gases will form bubbles leading to the generation of foam. In the presence of chelating substances, EC has difficulty in treating industrial wastewater to compliance levels. In the presence of the paint stripper B&B 5095, metal removal was significantly reduced. Moreover, the surfactant properties of the paint stripping solution resulted in an enhanced rate of foam production and the increased application of high pressure water spray to maintain system operation. Use of aluminum plates with the EC system had the potential to reduce the concentration of targeted metals to below their regulatory discharge compliance level. While, under acidic pH, the EC unit was capable of satisfactorily treating IWTP wastewater, under alkaline conditions, aluminum scale developed that lead to short-circuiting and a reduction in performance. On the whole, EC demonstrated a significant potential to treat metal finishing wastewater. However, the results illustrated that, in its present state of development, it does not possess the robustness needed to consistently meet the regulatory discharge limits associated with an industrial wastewater flow of variable strength and quality. What is needed to move the technology forward is a scientifically defensible theory that not only explains how metals are removed through the electrocoagulation process but identifies the operational parameters that limit the system performance. Until that occurs, designing effective EC wastewater treatment systems will remain a difficult challenge.