Modelling of Remediation of Polluted Soil by In-Situ Electrokinetic Treatment
Abstract:In order to investigate the efficiency of the in-situ electrokinetic method for the remediation of the soil contaminated with heavy metals, a mathematical model based on the physico-chemical transport phenomena has been constructed and the remediation process is simulated numerically with use of the model. The electrokinetic remediation is realized by applying a fixed low voltage direct current between the anode and the cathode which are set into the contaminated zone and saturating the zone with purge water. The numerical simulations show that the electrokinetic method is effective for the remediation of the polluted soil especially with heavy metals. The electric current and the electric potential between the anode and the cathode are the important operational variables for the electrokinetic remediation. It has been proved that the removal process can be divided into the two stages, i.e., the first stage and the second stage, according to the manner of the time variation of the electric current (i.e., the time variation of the spatial characteristics of the removal). The remediation process progresses from the anode to the cathode. Key Words:Polluted soil, Electrokinetic remediation, In-situ method, Mathematical model, Numerical simulation, Purge water, Transport phenomena