Enhanced Electrokinetic Remediation of Zinc Contaminated Soil by Changeover of Composite Electrolyte

The combination of electrolytes 0.1 M potassium chloride (KCl) and 0.1 M citric acid (CA) was investigated in a bench scale reactor for removal of zinc (Zn) from soil using electrokinetic remediation (EKR). The study was conducted over a period of 144 hours for different experimental set-ups. When KCl was used as a single electrolyte, 49.38 % removal of zinc was obtained with the changeover of electrolyte at every 24 hours, as compared to 12.5 %, when the reactor was operated as batch reactor without changeover. The use of composite electrolyte in cathode compartment and single electrolyte in anode compartment showed 79.06 % removal, whereas the use of composite electrolyte in both anode and cathode compartment gave 21.74 % removal.