Electrokinetic remediation of perchloroethylene-contaminated soil

One large group of persistent and toxic contaminants is the hydrophobic organic contaminants. Among them, perchloroethylene (PCE) has been recognized as a representative group of these pollutants with low solubility. This study reports on the effects of electrokinetic remediation with non-ionic surfactant on PCE-contaminated soil. The performance of electrokinetic process was investigated in the treatment of clay soil that artificially contaminated with two levels: 10,000 and 30,000 mg/kg PCE and 0.33 g/kg Triton X-100. A DC power supply with electric voltage (1 V/cm) was used for 8-16 days. A negatively charged soil surface resulted in a more negative zeta potential and greater electroosmotic flow toward the cathode. The PCE was measured after extraction using n-hexane and analyzed by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy instrument. The water content of soil was kept 25 % (w/w). Results were shown that PCE removal efficiency achieved was 74 and 89 % for 10,000 and 30,000 mg/kg PCE, respectively, for 16 days. Therefore, in this study, the integration of electrokinetic with non-ionic surfactant as a hybrid method was most effective for the remediation of PCE-contaminated soils.