Application of solar-cells in the electrokinetic remediation of As-contaminated soil

In this study, we evaluated the effectiveness of the solar-powered electrokinetic process for the remediation of As-contaminated soil in order to reduce the electrical energy consumption on a pilot scale, and this study also investigated the influence of oxalic acid for the treatment of As bound to amorphous iron-oxide. The soil was collected from a former refinery plant located in Janghang, Chungnam, Republic of Korea. The experiments were designed two different power supply systems: a normal power supply and a solar-powered system, and operated the experiments for five weeks. The normal direct current (DC)-powered system removed 32% of the As, but the solar-powered system removed 27% of the As from the soil over the five weeks of electrokinetic operation. The energy expenditure of the solar-based system was just 50% of that of the DC-powered system. The results show that the solar-powered electrokinetic process can remove slightly smaller amounts of contaminants with much less electrical energy. Based on these results, the solar-based electrokinetic process could be applied in order to remediate As-contaminated soil. However, enhanced As removal should be achieved for actual application.