Integrated In Situ Soil Remediation Technology: The Lasagna Process

Abstract

Contamination in low-permeability soils poses a significant technical challenge to in situ remediation efforts, primarily due to poor accessibility to the contaminants and difficulty in uniform delivery of treatment reagents. This paper discusses an integrated in situ remedial approach in which electrokinetics is coupled with sorption/degradation in treatment zones that are installed directly in the contaminated soils. Called Lasagna due to the layered appearance of electrodes and treatment zones, the technology could conceptually treat organic and inorganic contamination as well as mixed wastes. Laboratory results obtained with p-nitrophenol as a model organic contaminant in kaolinite support the feasibility of the approach. Key operating characteristics of the process are discussed.