The Effect of Electrokinetic Remediation on the Index Properties of Lead-Contaminated Lateritic Soil

Soil contamination is a global concern that has great effects on human health, groundwater, and the engineering properties of soil. The aim of this paper is to use the electrokinetic remediation technique to remove lead contaminants from lateritic soil and evaluate the index properties of the remediated soil. Contaminated soil specimens were prepared by mixing the lateritic soil with a maximum 1% lead nitrate concentration in a stepwise increment of 0.2% by weight of dry soil.  Thereafter, the soil was remediated in an electrokinetic cell using graphite electrodes with acetic acid and ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid (EDTA) as electrolytes. The results obtained shows a liquid limit and the plasticity index of electrokinetic lead remediated soil decreased from 52.00 to 39.60% and 29.09 to 17.59%, respectively. The cation exchange capacity (CEC) of the electrokinetic lead remediated soil increased from 5.31 to 8.20 Cmolkg-1 after the electrokinetic process, while the liner shrinkage decreased from 12.14 to 5.0 %. The percentage passing the BS NO 200 sieve ranges from 7.68 to 5.85 for British Standard Light (BSL), 5.09 to 5.50 for West African Standard (WAS), and 10.4 to 5.60 for British Standard Heavy (BSH). Furthermore, the percentage of gravel for BSL ranges from 1.6 to 14 for BSL, 1.6 to 13.4 for WAS, and 1.7 to 3.5 for BSH. Overall, the electrokinetic technique proved to be effective in removing lead from contaminated lateritic soil and improving its index properties. Results obtained provide valuable insight into the remediation of contaminated soil using the electrokinetic technique.