DCT techniques vs incineration for remediation of soils contaminated by diesel and salts

The objective of the present research is to determine the optimum parameters for obtaining a high efficiency of the treatment of electrochemical remediation, in order to remediate a soil contamination by organic compounds and salts. The obtained results are planned to be adopted for a comparative analysis with the option of incineration. An electrochemical remediation method using a constant current, instead of constant voltage, was evaluated for its ability of remediating such contamination. The impacts of five factors including initial total petroleum hydrocarbon (TPH) concentration, conductivity, salinity, soil type, moisture was assessed. The major impact comes from conductivity that establish the possibility to apply the electrochemical treatment under constant current. The obtained data are suitable for the development of an energy balance of this approach and are planned to be used for a comparison with an alternative option of remediation: incineration. The main goal of incineration is to heat the contaminated media to temperatures between 870 and 1,200°C, volatilizing and burning the organic compounds. The full comparison will be made in a future paper; in this paper preliminary considerations are presented.