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Review | Industrial and Domestic Waste Management | Volume 4 - Issue 1 - 2024 | 42-55 | https://doi.org/10.53623/idwm.v4i1.442
© 2024 by the author(s), and is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) License Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) License

Enhanced Soil Decontamination via Electrokinetic Removal of Organic Pollutants

Author(s): Hui Yee Ngieng 1 , Muhammad Noor Hazwan Jusoh 1 , Noraziah Ahmad 2 , Md Abdullah Al Masud 3 , Hasara Samaraweera 4 , Mohamed Mostafa Mohamed 5 , 6 ,
Author(s) information:
1 Department of Civil and Construction Engineering, Faculty of Engineering and Science, Curtin University Malaysia
2 Fakulti Teknologi Kejuruteraan Awam, Universiti Malaysia Pahang Al Sultan Abdullah Kampus Gambang, 26300 Kuantan, Pahang, Malaysia
3 School of Architecture, Civil, Environmental and Energy Engineering, Kyungpook National University, Daegu, 41566, Republic of Korea
4 Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Western University, London, N6H0B6, Ontario, Canada
5 Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, United Arab Emirates University, Al Ain P.O. Box 15551, United Arab Emirates
6 National Water and Energy Center, United Arab Emirates University, Al Ain P.O. Box 15551, United Arab Emirates

Corresponding author

Industrial and Domestic Waste Management

Volume 4 - Issue 1 - 2024

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Soil pollution is one of the concern issues in the Asia region. Soil acts as a shelter for underground microorganisms and provides nutrients for plants. Most of the organic contaminants are sourced from agriculture and industrial areas. Organic contaminants which are volatilized and immiscible lead to air and water pollution. Electrokinetic remediation is a technology that has been developed for soil remediation since a few decades ago. It is not fully developed and is still under investigation. Electrokinetic remediation is being applied to improve the removal efficiency of organic contaminants which exist in low hydraulic conductivity of soil or fine-grained soil.  Generally, a low direct current, 1DCV/cm is applied. Facilitating agents including surfactant and co-solvent combined with electrokinetic remediation eliminated more organic contaminants compared with electrokinetic remediation alone. Electrokinetic remediation with the addition of bioremediation or phytoremediation process manipulates the transportation of organic contaminants in soil to increase the efficiency of remediation technologies. Electrokinetic remediation is recommended due to its flexibility, cost-effectiveness, and safety. One of the drawbacks is low effectiveness in removing non-polar organic pollutants due to weak desorption capacity and poor solubility in water. Co-solvents and surfactants can be introduced as alternatives to enhancing the solubility of non-polar pollutants and reducing surface tension, which improves their mobility within the soil matrix. These facilitating agents help improve the overall effectiveness of electrokinetic remediation, particularly for challenging contaminants.

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SUBMITTED: 30 April 2024
ACCEPTED: 17 June 2024
PUBLISHED: 20 June 2024
SUBMITTED to ACCEPTED: 49 days
DOI: https://doi.org/10.53623/idwm.v4i1.442

Cite this article
Ngieng, H. Y. ., Jusoh, M. N. H. ., Ahmad, N., Al Masud, M. A. ., Samaraweera, H. ., & Mohamed, M. M. . (2024). Enhanced Soil Decontamination via Electrokinetic Removal of Organic Pollutants. Industrial and Domestic Waste Management, 4(1), 42–55. https://doi.org/10.53623/idwm.v4i1.442
Keywords
Soil Pollution Electrokinetic Organic Contaminants Remediation Technique Surfactants Bioremediation
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