Electrokinetic remediation of diesel-contaminated silty sand under continuous and periodic voltage application

Hydrocarbon contamination is among the most challenging problems in soil remediation. Electrokinetic method can be a promising method to remediate hydrocarbon-contaminated soils. Electrokinetic method consists of different transport phenomena including electro-migration, electrophoresis, and electroosmotic flow. Electroosmotic flow is the main transport phenomenon for hydrocarbon removal in soil porous media. However, the main component of hydrocarbons is the hydrophobic organic which indicates low water solubility; therefore, it makes the electroosmotic flow less effective. The objective of the present study is to enhance electrokinetic remediation of diesel-contaminated silty sand by increasing the solubility of the hydrocarbons in the soil and then increase the efficiency. For this purpose, sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) was used as a catholyte. In this content, SDS 0.05 M was used as catholyte and Na2SO4 0.1 M was used as an anolyte. Low (1 V/cm) and high (2 V/cm) voltage gradients were used in periodic and continuous forms. The best removal efficiency was observed for high voltage gradient (2 V/cm) in a periodic form, which was 63.86. This result showed that a combination of periodic voltage application in addition to the employment of SDS is an effective method for hydrocarbon removal from low permeable sand. © 2019 Korean Society of Environmental Engineers.