Reduction of Contaminants in Soil and Water By Direct Electric Current - Electrokinetics for Petroleum and Environmental Engineers - page 72

show clearly that the dissolved fraction of a chlorinated
hydrocarbon could be transported by EO.
Potassium formate (potassium salt of formic acid), an
organic acid used as a drilling fluid additive, was treated using
EK. The goal of this treatment was to reduce the potassium
content of the mixture by separating the potassium from its
anion component (i.e., formic acid) for recycling. Two types
of tests, with single and double cell configurations and vari-
able electric potential applications were developed to assess
the efficacy of EK. Figure 2.30 shows the conceptual scheme
of the proposed separation and the photographs of the test

1E-02

100

1E-03

80

1E-04

60

1E-05

40

1E-06

20

1E-07

0

0 0 20000

Elapsed Time of EO Flow (min)

30000 40000 50000 60000

Concentration of TCE in Anode

Concentration of TCE in Cathode

Equiv. Hydr. Consuctivity, cm/sec

Figure 2.29 The cumulative mass transport of TCE from anode to cathode electrode
chamber by EO in soil samples from LLNL DOE Complex site (Pamukcu and Pervizpour,
1998b).

+X - K + X -

Double Cell

K + -

+K + X -

Single Cell

Figure 2.30 Single and double cell EK test configurations and photos of the test cells for
extracting K+ from drilling mud