Chelates enhanced electrokinetic remediation by conditioning catholyte pH

Chelate agents were used as washing solutions as well as purging solutions at the electrode compartments. The pH value of the soil significantly affects the removal of heavy metal ions. Due to electrolysis reaction pH increases near the cathode. Without conditioning of the pH value metals precipitate as hydroxides. This problem is solved by the addition of an acid in the cathode compartment. The heavy metals that are dissolved will move to either the cathode or the anode, depending on their charges. This paper presents the results of electrokinetic extraction of cadmium using acetic acid, citric acid and pyridine-2,6-dicarboxylic acid (PDA) as washing and purging solutions. The results showed that the increased experimental time induced a higher removal efficiency of cadmium. At the end of the experiments more than 90 % of cadmium removal was achieved.