Electrokinetic Remediation Of Soil Sample From Chromium Dump In Ranipet, Vellore

Authors

  • Anil Singh , Devika Satish Desai , Rijo Rajumon

Abstract

Chromium is one among the typical heavy metals that contaminate the environment and is being
used in different industrial activities like a tannery, electro-plating, pigments in paint, stainless steel and
fertilisers. When the chromium is discharged as industrial effluent, it remains in the environment and
contaminates the surrounding soil from the water itself. In such situations, the remediation of these
contaminated soils is such a great challenge. Similarly, different industrial operations also create some
chromium-rich effluents. The Tamil Nadu Chromates and Chemical Ltd (TCCL) company premises which
were closed down 20 years before in 1999, is still covered with 165,000 tons of chromium-bearing waste.
Even now reports have been coming that the surrounding areas are being contaminated due to the chromium
deposits. The hexavalent chromium present in the yellow runoff from the dump has contaminated the nearby
region even 1.5 miles away from the site. The leachate with a yellowish colour formed during rainy season
consists of hexavalent chromium, and this results in the percolation of the dangerous chromium to the
subsurface, contaminating the soil and groundwater. For remediating this particular chromium from dumpsite
as well as from the soil, different technologies like bio-remediation, soil flushing, electrokinetic remediation,
thermal desorption, geo-chemical fixation, soil vapour extraction, and phytoremediation have been used
successfully. The most widely used method is electrokinetic remediation, where the electrical charge has been
applied, and the resulting cations and anions migrate to the respective electrodes. Thus we can remediate the
soil from the heavy metals. In the present experiment, we have applied electrokinetic remediation to remediate
the contaminated soil taken from Ranipet. There are many studies for remediation of contaminated soil and
dumpsites through electrokinetic remediation. In this study, we have taken certain soil amendments along with
the normal soil as the amendments can improve the quality of the soil. The soil amendment used in this study
is bone dust, and the migration of chromium ions is experimented, and the removal efficiency is investigated
for different voltages.

Published

2020-03-25

Issue

Section

Articles