Electroosmosis remediation of DNAPLS in low permeability soils
- Monsanto Company, St. Louis, MO (United States)
Electroosmosis is the movement of water through a soil matrix induced by a direct current (DC) electric field. The technique has been used since the 1930s for dewatering and stabilizing fine-grained soils. More recently, electroosmosis has been considered as an in-situ method for soil remediation in which water is injected into the soil at the anode region to flush the contaminants to the cathode side for further treatment or disposal. The major advantage of electroosmosis is its inherent ability to move water uniformly through clayey, silty soils at 100 to 1000 times faster than attainable by hydraulic means, and with very low energy usage. Drawbacks of electroosmosis as a stand-alone technology include slow speed, reliance on solubilizing the contaminants into the groundwater for removal, potentially an unstable process for long term operation, and necessary additional treatment and disposal of the collected liquid. Possible remediation applications of electroosmosis for DNAPLs would be primarily in the removal of residual DNAPLs in the soil pores by electroosmotic flushing. The future of electroosmosis as a broad remedial method lies in how well it can be coupled with complementary technologies. Examples include combining electroosmosis with vacuum extraction, with surfactant usage to deal with non-aqueous phase liquids (NAPLs) through enhanced solubilization or mobilization, with permeability enhancing methods (hydrofracturing, pneumatic fracturing, etc.) to create recovery zones, and with in-situ degradation zones to eliminate aboveground treatment. 33 refs., 1 fig., 1 tab.
- Research Organization:
- Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)
- OSTI ID:
- 447164
- Report Number(s):
- ORNL/TM-13305; ON: DE97050722; TRN: 97:001173-0005
- Resource Relation:
- Other Information: PBD: Aug 1996; Related Information: Is Part Of In situ remediation of DNAPL compounds in low permeability media fate/transport, in situ control technologies, and risk reduction; PB: 318 p.
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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