Abstract
Chromium pollution of soil is a serious environmental problem. The methods for remediating heavy metal contaminated soil include: containment, leaching, microbial remediation and phytoremediation. However, the drawbacks, such as high chemical cost, secondary pollution and lack of long-term stability, have limited the practical application of these methods. In this study, an environmentally friendly method of electrokinetic remediation (EKR) combined with adsorption was used to remediate chromium contaminated soil. Two groups of EKR experiments were conducted in the laboratory to study the factors affecting the electric current, pH, and removal efficiency. First, the variation in electric current and electrolyte pH when using different electrolytes (citric acid, sodium chloride, and deionized water) was compared. Then, the effect of remediation time (3, 5, and 7 days) and potential gradient (2, 1, and 0.5 V/cm) on Cr6+ removal efficiency was studied. Moreover, the mechanisms of heavy metal removal were analysed. The results showed that the citric acid cannot only neutralize hydroxide ions produced by water electrolysis in the cathode but also reduce some of Cr6+ anions to nontoxic Cr3+ cations. The Cr6+ concentration in section S2 and S3 was higher than that in section S1, S4 and S5, because the migration direction of Cr6+ anion was opposite under the functions of electromigration and electroosmosis. The Cr6+ removal efficiency reached up to 72.4% under potential gradient of 2 V/cm and remediation time of 5 days, and no toxic chemicals were added or produced. EKR combined with exchange resin adsorption is environmentally friendly and efficient and can be applied in situ.
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All data generated or analysed during this study are included in this published article (and its Supplementary Information files).
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This work was supported by National Natural Science Foundation of China (Ion transport and gradient theory of energy level in electroosmosis, No: 41472039).
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All authors contributed to the study conception and design. Material preparation, data collection and analysis were performed by Xi-yin Liu. The first draft of the manuscript was written by Xi-yin Liu and all authors commented on previous versions of the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.
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Liu, Xy., Xu, Lh. & Zhuang, Yf. Effect of electrolyte, potential gradient and treatment time on remediation of hexavalent chromium contaminated soil by electrokinetic remediation and adsorption. Environ Earth Sci 82, 40 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12665-022-10673-6
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12665-022-10673-6