Remediation of Copper Contaminated Kaolin by Electrokinetics Coupled with Permeable Reactive Barrier

Electrokinetics is an in situ soil remediation technique by which the flow direction of the pollutants can be controlled and the soil with low permeability can be treated. In this study, the remediation of copper contaminated kaolin by electrokinetic process coupled with activated carbon permeable reactive barrier (PRB) was investigated. The experimental results showed that the integration of PRB with electrokinetics successfully removed copper from kaolin with pH control of the catholyte. The average removal rate reached the highest of 96.60% when the initial Cu2+ concentration was 2000 mg/kg. Compared to the electrokinetic process without PRB, the application of the coupled system could reduce the pollution of the electrolyte.