Professor, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, National University of Kaohsiung

Speech Title: Electrokinetic remediation of soil contaminated with benzene and copper in a three dimensional electrokinetic system coupled with Fe/Al oxidation electrode

Abstract: Benzene and copper were the common pollutants found in the contaminated soil in petroleum and electroplating industry. This study examined the remediation performance of benzene and copper in soil matrix over Fe/Al oxidation electrodes in a three-dimensional electrokinetic system with processing fluid of sodium chloride and lactic acid applied potential gradient of 1 V/cm for 10-20 day. A superior remediation efficiency of benzene up to 97% was found, which might largely due to the high conductivity of NaCl and the hypochlorite produced in the system. Applied lactic acid as processing fluid and prolonging treatment duration were favor for remediation of copper. No significant deterioration of remediation performance of benzene was found as soil co-contaminated with copper. In the investigated systems, the degradation mechanism was more critical for benzene than the EK removal mechanism and vice visa for copper. A distinguished vertical migration from the bottom layer toward the top layer for both contaminants and the plated copper on the surface of cathode electrodes were found. These findings were valuable for deep soil contamination based on technical and economy orientations. This study confirmed that the elcetrokinetic process coupled with Fe/Al oxidation electrodes is a successful technique for the remediation of both benzene and copper contaminated soil.