Techno-economic analysis of the scale-up process of electrochemically-assisted soil remediation

Abstract

This work presents a techno-economic study of the scaling-up of the electrochemicallyassisted soil remediation (EASR) process of polluted soil. Four scales have been selected for the study: laboratory, bench, pilot and prototype, with a capacity of treating a volume of soil of 1×10 -4 , 2×10 -3 , 0.11 and 21.76 m 3 , respectively. This study analyses the technical information produced by studies carried out at each scale, and informs about the fixed costs (construction of the electrokinetic remediation reactor, installation of auxiliary services and purchase of analytical equipment) and variable costs (start-up, operation and dismantling of the test) derived from running a test at each of the evaluated scales. The information discussed in based on the experience gained with many evaluations carried out over the last decade at these scales. This information can provide useful guidance for developing a scaling-up of the EASR for many researchers starting on the evaluation of this important environmental remediation technology.

Environmental Footprint Analysis Tools of Electrokinetic Remediation (EKR): A Bibliometric View of The Literature

“…Ecological model, human health assessment approach, INSIDE management model, a predictive model of energy consumption and heavy metal movement in soil, and the sampling point estimate model was initiated to provide input for decision making on EKR activities on a field scale [2,30,31,32,38,39]. EKR project financing factors in the form of economic models and technical-economical were also considered as elements of decision making [38,40]. A widespread combination of decision-making tools is the LCA quantitative mechanisms that is applied with other tools [22,41].…”

Can the green energies improve the sustainability of electrochemically-assisted soil remediation processes?

“…Up to few years ago, the main target of those developing technologies was to reach high efficiencies in the remediation of soils, that is, to remove fast and completely the pollutants contained, preventing their spreading (Cameselle and Reddy, 2013;Lu and Yuang, 2009;Reddy et al, 2011). However, in the recent years sustainability concepts have arisen and now, it is not only required to develop efficient technologies in the removal of pollutants, but it is also relevant that these technologies are capable of minimizing environmental impacts ( López-Vizcaíno et al, 2019;Millan et al, 2020). It would not make sense to perform remediation treatments that bring out higher environmental risks that the impact to be recovered.…”

“…Results show that a complex set of processes influence the recovery of a polluted soil, the dragging of species does not only depend on the process operation conditions (electric field, electrodes placement…) but also, and, very importantly, on soil and pollution characteristics (López-Vizcaíno et al, 2017a, b). Furthermore, it is important to note that the higher the experimental setup size, the higher the operational costs, being the powering costs the most relevant (López-Vizcaíno et al, 2019). Considering that the power consumption of those treatments is one of the most important economic costs, the nature of that energy may also influence the environmental cost of the process.…”

Scale-up of electrokinetic permeable reactive barriers for the removal of organochlorine herbicide from spiked soils

“…Many of them were limited to research conducted in extremely well-controlled lab units that, unfortunately, do not reproduce accurately the behavior of the full application. Only few studies have addressed the comparison of the same electrochemically assisted soil remediation process at different scales [8] [9] and the main inputs that should be accounted for a proper scale-up study are not yet well stablished. In electrokinetic soil remediation, three electrical drive processes coexist (electrokinetic, electrochemical and electrical heating processes) together with other associated chemical and physical processes.…”