Electrokinetic remediation of contaminated soils

Recently, soil pollution has gained importance among the main environmental problems in the world. In developed countries, as well as water and air pollution, soil pollution has become a big issue. This commonly encountered contaminants heavy metals, chlorinated organic compounds, total petroleum hydrocarbons (TPH) and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH).In the presented study, remediation studies were conducted to determine the effectiveness of electrokinetic method on the treatment of natural soil contaminated with petroleum hydrocarbons, in laboratory scale reactors. Electokinetic remediation of agricultural soil with an initial TPHs concentration of 10000 ppm was investigated under 20 V or 40 V direct current by using NaOH, pure water, Acetic Acid and Ethanol as electrolyte solution, treatment efficiencies were observed according to the distance from the anode chamber and the applied electrical potential. The effect level of electrokinetic remediation on PAHs, which were announced by EPA as in high toxicity group and present in engine oil that was used as contaminant, was also included in the framework of the study. It was observed that high treatment efficiencies for PAHs and TPHs were achieved according to the distance from the anode and the electrical potential applied to the system. Additionally, the operational costs of the systems were also evaluated and it was seen that the applied conditions resulted with lower costs compared with the previous electrokinetic studies reported in the literature and with the other treatment technologies, despite the data exhibit higher treatment efficiencies.