Electrokinetic-assisted Phytoremediation

The combination of low intensity electric fields and plants, named as electrokinetic-assisted phytoremediation, to carry out the decontamination of polluted soils has been proposed as a more ecological alternative to the addition of chelating agents in order to increase the availability of pollutants. It results from the electrolysis of water, which generates redox and acid/base reactions in the soil, and the transport of charged species throughout the liquid phase of the soil. EK-phytoremediation allows to reduce the time of treatment as compared to that of phytoremediation and may be applied to both metal(loid)s and organic pollutants. In this chapter, the multiple aspects concerning the applicability of EK-phytoremediation, such as the electrochemical processes and the physicochemical changes occurring in the soil, along with the effects of electric current on plant biomass and some practical issues of the technique, have been extensively discussed based in the literature published to date.