Study on the Possibility of Rapid Elimination of Accidentally Spilled Petroleum Hydrocarbons in Agricultural Soil

Soil pollution by petroleum hydrocarbons is a problem of concern to researchers in various domains. Many depollution methods exist for these situations, but not in all cases can the pollutant be recovered. Soil, an important environmental factor, has to be kept clean and often has to be returned to agricultural use. A common situation of accidental soil pollution is the transportation of petroleum products through pipelines. In this paper, a study is presented that highlights a fast-acting option for significant pollutant recovery, thus limiting major soil pollution. A study on the use of electrodes to help achieve these objectives is proposed. Three working variants have been established, with different electrodes (stainless steel and copper). The degrees of depollution achieved during one week with a working voltage of 12 V were determined. The highest degree of depollution (52.94%) was obtained for copper electrodes. Although electrokinetic depollution is mainly applied to polluted waters and for the removal of metals, the method proved to be efficient also for an agricultural soil polluted with 7% diesel oil. Nutrients (NPKs) and wash water were analyzed before and after depollution to verify if secondary pollution was present.