Modeling electrokinetically-enhanced aggregate remediation

Electrokinetic remediation is one of the fundamental approaches for decontaminating contaminated soils, but there is considerable confusion about when and how this offers competitive advantages over alternative approaches. A model is presented to evaluate the potential of using electromobility-enhanced aggregate remediation to accelerate the transfer of sequestered contamination to the liquid phase where it can be managed by other mass transfer processes. Simulations demonstrate that when the size of the contaminated aggregate is small, there is little advantage in electrokinetic acceleration, but when the aggregates are sufficiently large, electromobility-enhanced remediation can accomplish in a few days what could otherwise take years to complete.