Experimental study on electrokinetic remediation of copper contaminated soil

Key words: 
• soil pollution /
• heavy metal /
• electrokinetic remediation /
• factors of influence

Abstract: The electro-remediation method of soil contaminated by heavy metals was researched by means of experiments in this paper, and the characteristic and mechanism for distribution and migration of heavy metals were analyzed. The experimental results indicated that the concentrations of heavy metals changed obviously in soil in electric field and most of the heavy metal pollutants can be enriched and removed in the vicinity of electrodes. The removal efficiency of copper in the soil of vicinity of positive electrode was 71.1% when the experimental intensity of electricfield was 0.5 V/cm. The pH value closing to the positive electrode changed from 6.8 in initial stage to 4.4 at later stage, and the pH value was on the contrary closing to the negative electrode, namely, changed from 6.6 in the beginning to 9.1 in the last. In addition, the temperature nearby electrodes changed during the process of the electro-remediation.