Electroremediation of contaminated soil by heavy metals using ion exchange fibers

Electrokinetic remediation has become a usual process for the removal of contaminants from soils. Various materials and products are used in the electrokinetic treatment to improve the efficiency of this technique. Ion exchange membranes have been tested resulting in an enhancement of the metal removal selectivity and permits good control of the pH. On the other hand, the use of membranes permits the contaminants to be isolated and concentrated in a separate compartment. In this work, other materials different than membranes have been tested through electroremediation of a kaolinite specimen contaminated with lead and zinc. Ion exchange fibers have been tested playing similar role of membranes. However, fibers are based on a cellulosic structure which gives to the fibers hydrophilic properties. Thus, fibers have shown a good mechanical structure and have enhanced the electro-osmotic flux with a better selectivity against ions less hydrated as lead. Removal yields were increased for lead and zinc while the latter is more retained inside the cation exchange fibers.