Enhanced remediation of Cr(VI)-contaminated soil by incorporating a calcined-hydrotalcite-based permeable reactive barrier with electrokinetics

Abstract

This paper describes the enhanced Cr(VI)-contaminated soil remediation via a combination of electrokinetics (EK) with a calcined-hydrotalcite-based permeable reactive barrier (PRB). First, this combination proved to be feasible, and remarkably facilitated Cr(VI) remediation in a column test. Then, lightly-to-severely (0.16–1.65mg/g) Cr(VI)-contaminated soil was remediated in a simulated test with the calcined hydrotalcite as the PRB under an voltage of 10–30V (i.e. an electric field intensity of 0.7–2.0V/cm). The observations demonstrated that both PRB and EK are critical to efficient remediation and the high de-contamination efficiency is supposedly attributed to the synergistic effect, for which EK concentrates anionic chromate to the anode region and PRB media (calcined hydrotalcite) absorbs and immobilizes it. Thus we have shown that the combined PRB–EK system is highly adaptive and effective in remediation of a larger area contaminated with chromate and various anionic pollutants.