Abstract
The treatment and beneficial use of polluted or contaminated environmental matrices have become major issues, especially as the world strives toward a zero-waste policy. In this regard, dredged sediments need to be treated before they can be used in an environmentally safe and sustainable manner. Therefore, this work aims to treat estuarine sediments and, more importantly, use physicochemical, mineral, organic, and chemical information to understand the reactions that occur upon treatment. Dredged estuarine sediments were collected from Tancarville (Seine River estuary, France) and subjected to electrokinetic (EK) remediation using a 128-L laboratory-scale reactor. The sediments were treated 8 h per day for 21 days. The electric (voltage and current) and physicochemical (pH and electric conductivity) parameters were monitored during treatment. Sediments were collected from various sections in the reactor at the end of the experiment (lengthwise, widthwise, and depthwise). The spatial variation was investigated in terms of organic, mineral, and metal contents. Statistical analyses proved that the variation occurred only in the lengthwise direction. Furthermore, three main phases described the treatment, which were mainly linked to carbonate dissolution and pH variation. The results also showed that the trace elements Ni and Zn were reduced by 21% and 19%, respectively, without a direct link to pH, while Ca and Mg were only redistributed. The buffering capacity of the anodic sediment was reduced due to carbonate dissolution. The treated sediments showed reduced contents in trace metals without affecting major elements that can be useful in agriculture (i.e., Ca and Mg).
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Acknowledgements
The authors acknowledge Dr. Benoît Duchemin (LOMC, Le Havre University) and Dr. Nicolas Hucher (URCOM, Le Havre University) for valuable help in running XRD and FTIR measurements. We are most grateful to PLATIN’ (Plateau d’Isotopie de Normandie) core facility for all element analysis used in this study. We also thank three anonymous reviewers for their critical review and constructive comments that improved the quality of this work.
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This work was funded by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF), Interreg France (Channel Manche) England, ReCon Soil.
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Ahmed Benamar, Mohamed-Tahar Ammami, and Hussein J. Kanbar designed the experiment; Hussein J. Kanbar, Mohamed-Tahar Ammami, and Ahmad Zein-Eddin performed laboratory work; Hussein J. Kanbar led the treating of data and writing the paper; all the authors contributed critically to the drafts and gave final approval for publication.
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Kanbar, H.J., Zein-Eddin, A., Ammami, MT. et al. Electrokinetic remediation of estuarine sediments using a large reactor: spatial variation of physicochemical, mineral, and chemical properties. Environ Sci Pollut Res 30, 117688–117705 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-023-30271-8
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-023-30271-8