Electrorremediación de metales pesados Cd y Ni, de los pasivos ambientales de suelo contaminado, generado por derrames de petróleo en el cantón Joya de Los Sachas, sector La Parker.

Abstract

The objective of this investigation was to remedy soils contaminated with heavy metals, cadmium (Cd) and nickel (Ni) generated by oil spills, by means of the electro remediation technique. In this study, soil samples taken in the La Parker sector of the Joya de los Sachas area were used, to know their properties, a physicochemical and mineralogical characterization was made. The electro remediation process was carried out in the laboratories of the Faculty of Sciences of the Escuela Superior Politécnica de Chimborazo, by using a glass cell of (25x 10x 13) cm, 120 cm3 capacity, the distance between the electrodes is 15 cm, with wells of 2.5 cm each, each hard treatment 48 hours, we worked with samples of 600 g of soil, conditioned with a solution of 0.1 M iron sulphate, as a wetting agent, and in the anodic and the electrolyte solution, acetic acid and 0.1 M phosphoric acid respectively were used. After carrying out the electro remediation test to treat the soils contaminated with Cd and Ni, it was concluded that, applying a constant voltage of 45 V, at 0.24 A, high removal efficiencies can be achieved, 93.7 % for cadmium and 85.1 % for nickel, the ionic migration of the metals in the system was also verified, presenting a majority tendency of displacement towards the cathodic region. From these results it is recommended to carry out a post treatment to the soil, combined with phytoremediation techniques.