REMEDIATION OF SOILS CONTAMINATED WITH OIL EMPLOYING ELECTROCHEMICAL AND PHYTEMEDICATION TECHNOLOGY
Electrochemical technology, phytorremediation, petroleum, sunflower seeds.
This work aims to investigate the efficiency of phytoremediation integrated to electrokinetic (ER) remediation processes using graphite electrodes to remove petroleum in contaminated soils. In this sense, the influence of the applied electric field, the growth of the sunflowers, and the type of fluid used to maintain soil moisture were evaluated. The phytoremediation, electrokinetic remediation, electro-phytoremediation with direct current application, electro-phytoremediation with application of inversion of polarities of the electrodes were evaluated, applying 1 V cm-1 for 20 days. Based on the results, it was possible to observe that the integration of ER with phytoremediation promoted higher percentage of germination of sunflower seeds, as well as for plant growth. The removal of petroleum was evaluated considering the total petroleum hydrocarbons (TPH) after 20 days of treatment. The best removal efficiencies were obtained for electromagnetic remediation with inversion of polarity of the electrodes. Finally, at the end of the 20 d of soil treatment, the electrochemical oxidation processes with H2O2 and electro-Fenton were compared for the treatment of residual fluid.