Electro-kinetic remediation of chromium-contaminated soil by a three-dimensional electrode coupled with a permeable reactive barrier

Abstract

Improper disposal of chromium (Cr) and its compounds, especially hexavalent chromium (Cr(VI)), results in soil and ground water pollution and is consequently harmful to human health. In this study, three-dimensional electro-kinetic remediation of Cr-contaminated soil is investigated by coupling a two-dimensional electrode with a permeable reactive barrier (PRB) with a graphite electrode as the third electrode. Mixed zero-valent iron and zeolite are used as filling materials in the PRB. Moreover, three experimental conditions, i.e. two-dimensional electro-kinetic remediation with and without PRB and three-dimensional electro-kinetic remediation with PRB, are investigated herein. The results are evaluated based on the removal rate and leaching efficiency both in the pre- and post-experiments. Upon comparing the three conditions, the results show that three-dimensional electro-kinetic remediation with PRB has a better effect on both leaching efficiency and removal rate of contaminated soil. Single and multifactor experiments were designed to explore the optimum conditions on the basis of three-dimensional remediation. Graphite particles with a 5% dosage, resulted from the single-factor experiments, are used in the multi-factor experiments. The results show that the best remediation efficiencies are achieved after 12 d using 0.05 mol L⁻¹ citric acid and a voltage gradient of 1.5 V cm⁻¹ in three-dimensional electro-kinetic remediation coupled with PRB.