Study Tests on Electrokinetic Remediation of Sea Harbor Sediments

4 CASE STUDY TESTS ON ELECTROKINETIC REMEDIATION OF SEA HARBOR SEDIMENTS 

In the framework of a research program of national interest, electrokinetic remediation was applied to two different sea sediments dredged from industrial harbors located in Northeastern Italy (namely, sediment V) and Southwestern Sardinia (namely, sediment S). Both areas were subjected for several years to industrial pressure of chemical and mining type, and the analysis performed on the two sediment samples indicated significant heavy metal content high contents of As and Zn (181 and 3720mg/kg, respectively) were detected in sediment V, as were Pb and Zn (4970 and 5210mg/kg, respectively) in sediment S (see Table 12). 

A number of experiments were performed on both sediments by varying the specimen length (12,20, and 30cm), the applied voltage (12,18,30, and 60V), the treatment duration (7,14,20,22, and 30 days), and the type of conditioning agents used at the electrodes (EDTA, nitric acid, and citric acid). A summary of the different conditions applied is reported in Table 7.1. 

At the end of each experiment, the material was demoulded from the apparatus and cut into a number of slices to evaluate the removal/accumulation of species as 

Run Sediment Test Duration (day) Applied Voltage (V) Applied Voltage Gradient (V/cm) Specimen Length (cm) Catholyte Anolyte Additional Conditions 

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