Electrokinetic EK Extraction System

Electrochemical Remediation Technologies for Polluted Soils, Sediments and Groundwater, Edited by Krishna R. Reddy and Claudio Cameselle Copyright 2009 John Wiley Sons, Inc. 

EM rates in the subsurface depend on electric current, soil pore fluid, grain size, ionic mobility, and contamination level. The direction and quantity of contaminant movement are influenced by soil type, pore fluid chemistry, contamination level, and electric current (Yeung, 1994). EK remediation can be used for both saturated and unsaturated soils, but for better efficiency, the soil moisture content should be high enough to allow EM. Nonionic species would be transported along with the electroosmotically induced fluid flow. The efficiency of extraction relies on several factors such as species type, solubility, electrical charge, and concentration relative to other species (Mitchell, 1993). 

This technology is particularly effective in low-permeabUity soils where hydro-dynamic techniques would be unsuitable (Yeung, Hsu, and Menon, 1996 Page and Page, 2002 Reddy and Saichek, 2003). Contaminants that can be treated by EK processes include (Yeung, 1994) 

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