Chelating agent-assisted electrokinetic removal of cadmium, lead and copper from contaminated soils

Abstract

An integrated experimental program was conducted to remove Cd, Pb and Cu from contaminated soil. The chelate agents nitrilotriacetic acid (NTA), diethylenetriamine pentaacetic acid (DTPA) and ethyleneglycol tetraacetic acid (EGTA) were used as washing solutions under different pH conditions and concentrations. Results showed that the extraction efficiency for Cd in decreasing order was NTA > EGTA > DTPA, while for Pb and Cu it was DTPA > NTA > EGTA. The use of higher chelate concentrations did not necessarily result in greater extraction efficiency. Electrokinetic remediation was applied by conditioning anolyte–catholyte pH to neutral values in order to avoid any potential alterations to the physicochemical soil properties. The removal efficiency for Cd was 65–95%, for Cu 15–60%, but for Pb was less than 20%. The phytotoxicity of the treated soil showed that the soil samples from the anode section were less phytotoxic than the untreated soil, but the phytotoxicity was increased in the samples from the cathode section.