Enhancing Electrokinetic Removal of Cu and Pb from Loess by Alleviating the Focusing Effect: Influence of Electric Field Strength, EKG Electrodes, and Catholyte pH

Severe Cu and Pb enrichment in loess areas of northwestern China, mainly associated with mining and smelting activities, has increased the demand for efficient soil decontamination. Electrokinetic (EK) remediation is a promising in situ technology because it can drive ionic contaminants through low-permeability porous media with limited excavation and relatively low secondary disturbance. In this study, the effects of electric field strength, electrode type, and catholyte pH on Cu and Pb removal from contaminated loess were systematically evaluated using a large-scale EK reactor. The full name of EKG is electrokinetic geosynthetics. During treatment, pH, electrical conductivity, electric current, cumulative electroosmotic flow (EOF), and the spatial distributions of Cu and Pb were monitored. Increasing the electric field from 1.0 to 2.0 V cm⁻¹ increased current and EOF and accelerated anodic acid-front propagation, but it also strengthened cathodic alkalization and precipitation. Compared with graphite electrodes, electrokinetic geosynthetics (EKG) electrodes maintained higher current and EOF, generated stronger acidification, and increased Cu and Pb removal by approximately 25% and 5%, respectively. Among the tested catholyte conditions, pH 7.0 provided the best balance between electromigration and electroosmosis, achieving overall soil-phase removal efficiencies of approximately 19.0% for Cu and 8.0% for Pb. These results show that coordinated regulation of the electric field, electrode architecture, and electrolyte chemistry can mitigate the focusing effect in loess, although further enhancement is still required for field-scale decontamination.