Electrochemical desalination of concrete and electrochemical soil remediation - Differences and similarities

Electrokinetic methods are developed for removal of pollutants from concrete and soil (chloride and heavy metals, respectively), but even though there are many topics of common interest to these methods there is no tradition for collaboration. In order to utilize the possible synergy from such collaboration a new RILEM committee “Electrokinetics in Civil and Environmental Engineering (EPE)” has been initiated. In the present paper some issues for beneficial collaboration is outlined such as: neutralizing pH changes at the electrodes, minimizing matrix changes, increasing mobility and electromigration of target ions, influence from the degree of interconnected pores on the overall removal process, and electric field distribution at varying water content.