Removal of caesium by soil electrokinetic remediation on the effect of acetic acid and carbonate salt as electrolyte

To Aftermath of Tsunami tragedy at Japan on 2011, the catastrophic failure of the Fukushima I Nuclear Power Plant reactor resulted, release amount of radioactive caesium into the environment. In this study, non-polluted soil sample from Kotagede, Yogyakarta, Indonesia which has similar characteristic with Fukushima soil was prepared by artificially contaminated caesium (100 mg CsCl/kg soil) in five cycles of saturation process using de-ionized water and air-dried before being aged for five months and subjected to EKR treatment. The results obtained from those studies were used to predict the advantages of this technology in Fukushima soil. Physical and chemical of soil samples were characterized by X-Ray Diffraction for mineral contents and soil component analysis was measured for Organic Matter, Total Nitrogen, CEC and soil texture. EKR was conducted by using graphite electrode in constant voltage of 1 Vcm−1 for 7 days operation without control of electrolyte pH. Current flow in the soil was recorded for every 10 mins. by using data logger. The effect of electrolyte (e.g. 1 M acetic acid and carbonate salt) was also evaluated. All caesium concentrations were measured by flame-atomic adsorption spectrophotometer at wavelength of 852.1 nm. The results of these experiments showed that the type of electrolyte used in the experiments affected the rate of caesium removal. The removal caesium by acetic acid was higher than removal caesium by carbonate salt. Total removal of caesium concentration by acetic acid as electrolyte in soil A, B, C, D were 24.3%, 20.5%, 25.6%, 19.4%, respectively and the percentage of removal caesium concentration by carbonate salts as electrolit in soil A and B, C, D were 11.8%, 11.7%, 11.8%, 4.3%, respectively.