In recent decades the rapid growth of public awareness of
environmental problems has induced many governments to
introduce legislation that prescribes and limits the emission
of pollutants and consequently there was a notable increase
in research concerned with the treatment of industrial effluents
and, nowadays, many new technologies are available,
including biological, physical and chemical processes. Thanks
to the development of new electrode materials and more
compact reactors, electrochemical technologies have reached
a promising stage of development and can now also be
effectively used for the destruction of toxic or biorefractory
organics.