Electrokinetic Remediation for Environmental Security and Sustainability

18Perspectives on Electrokinetic Remediation of Contaminants of Emerging Concern in Soil

Paula Guedes^1,2, Nazaré Couto¹, Eduardo P. Mateus¹, Cristina Silva Pereira², and Alexandra B. Ribeiro¹

¹ CENSE – Center for Environmental and Sustainability Research, Department of Environmental Sciences and Engineering, NOVA School of Science and Technology, NOVA University Lisbon, 2829‐516 Caparica, Portugal

² Instituto de Tecnologia Química e Biológica António Xavier, NOVA University Lisbon, 2780‐157 Oeiras, Portugal

18.1 Introduction

18.1.1 Soil Pollution

Soil, a complex and dynamic system, should be regarded as a non‐renewable resource on a human scale. Soil contributes to the maintenance of all forms of life that occur on the terrestrial surface. It also has several other functions such as providing biomass and raw materials; storing, filtering, and transforming substances; and acting as a carbon and biodiversity pool, as a platform for human activities and the landscape, and as a heritage archive [1]. There are many threats to soil – erosion, sealing, compaction, landslides, loss of organic matter, salinization, and contamination – all of which potentially promote loss of biodiversity [1]. These threats have proven difficult to tackle and continue to be a challenge, particularly in line with expected future developments in urbanization, intensive agriculture, and industrialization.

The Intergovernmental Technical Panel of Soil (ITPS) identified soil contamination as the third threat ...