A laboratory-scale study of applied voltage and chelating agent on the electrokinetic separation of phenol from soil

The influence of the chelating agent (1-hydroxyethane-1, 1-diphosphonic aci d) (HEDPA) on the electroosmotic flow (EF) in natural, sod-podzolic soil co ntaminated with 0.003 g phenol per 1 g of dry soil was studied. An introduc tion of a small amount of HEDPA increased the electroosmotic permeability o f soil from 4 x 10(-5) to 11.2 x 10(-5) cm(2)/V .s. Up to 80-95% of the phe nol was removed from the soil by the EF during 30 to 50 hours of treatment with the average intensity of the EF remaining constant throughout the test s. The study confirmed that certain hazardous organic contaminants (e.g., p henol) could be successfully extracted from the soils of low permeability b y combined application of a direct-current electric field and specific comp lexing agents.