Water contaminants such as ions of heavy metals and colloids are destabilized by the addition of ions having a charge opposite to that of the colloid. The destabilized colloids become larger particles and are aggregated and subsequently removed by sedimentation and/or filtration. Periodic easy replacements of the sacrificial anodes is the only maintenance that the system needs.

Several wastewaters that cannot be treated with standard coagulation/flocculation processes, or turn out to be very expensive to be treated by that technology, have successfully been treated with the electro-coagulation process. It has been used to remove complex organics, fats, oil and grease, break oil emulsions and process multiple contaminants.

Waters coming from detergent production industries, chemical or pharmaceutical industries, oily waters, textile and dye industry, metal plating, and many others, have been treated with electro-coagulation technology with consistent and reliable results, with significantly less operation costs than alternative technologies, with low power consumption, generally with no chemical additions and with a capital cost that is much lesser than other alternative technologies.