Abstract:
Electrokinetic remediation has, in recent years, shown great potential in remediating
polluted environments. The technology can efficiently remove heavy metals, chlorophenols, polychlorinated
biphenyls, phenols, trichloroethane, benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene, and xylene (BTEX)
compounds and entire petroleum hydrocarbons. Electrokinetic remediation makes use of electrolysis,
electroosmosis, electrophoresis, diffusion, and electromigration as the five fundamental processes in
achieving decontamination of polluted environments. These five processes depend on pH swings,
voltage, electrodes, and electrolytes used in the electrochemical system. To apply this technology
at the field scale, it is necessary to pursue the design of effective processes with low environmental
impact to meet global sustainability standards. It is, therefore, imperative to understand the roles of
the fundamental processes and their interactions in achieving effective and sustainable electrokinetic
remediation in order to identify cleaner alternative solutions. This paper presents an overview of
different processes involved in electrokinetic remediation with a focus on the effect of pH, electrodes,
surfactants, and electrolytes that are applied in the remediation of contaminated soil and
how these can be combined with cleaner technologies or alternative additives to achieve sustainable
electrokinetic remediation. The electrokinetic phenomenon is described, followed by an evaluation
of the impact of pH, surfactants, voltage, electrodes, and electrolytes in achieving effective and
sustainable remediation.
