Soils contaminated with organic substances is an important issue across Europe: In some areas, these are the main causes of pollution, or the second after contamination from waste disposal. This paper included an experimental application that compared three methods of remediation of contaminated sites, based on electric fields: A single treatment (electroremediation); and two combined treatments, phyto-electrochemical and electrooxidation (a combination of chemical treatment and a DCT-direct current technology). The contaminated soil was taken from a former industrial area devoted to oil refining, located between two roads: The one national and the other one for industrial use. Nine soil samples were collected at two depths (0.2 and 0.4 m). The initial characterization of the soil showed a density of 1.5 g/cm³ and a moisture of about 20%; regarding grain size, 50% of the soil had particles with a diameter less than 0.08 mm. The electrochemical treatment and electrooxidation had an efficiency of 20% while the two combined methods had efficiencies of 42.5% for electrooxidation (with H2O2) and 20% for phyto-electroremediation (phyto-ER) with poinsettias.
Keywords: TPH; electroremediation; organic pollution; pelargonium; phytoremediation.