Clean-up of heavy metal-contaminated soil

Brown field sites that have been used for industrial or military purposes are sometimes contaminated with heavy metals, such as copper, lead, cadmium or mercury. Special techniques have to be developed to clean up this type of contamination. We are investigating a novel technique for the clean-up of fine-grained soils contaminated with heavy metals, which is known as Electrokinetics.

In this process, a current of electricity through the soil is used to mobilise the pollutant. In recent studies, we have attempted to adopt a two stage, two- dimensional process in which the aim is to concentrate the contaminant in a corner of the site. This has been done by moving electrodes at the end of the first stage, and by adopting an ion-selective membrane near one of the electrodes. Success is only partial at this stage. Further work remains to be done.

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Telephone - +44 01223 332714

Other environmentally related projects:

Clean-up of Contaminated land