Duration: 12.2024 – 11.2025

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Project team:

Prof. Dr. Massimo Rolle
FB 11, Aquatic Geochemistry

Dr.-Ing. Shelesh Agrawal
FB 13, Water and Environmental Biotechnology

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Project description:

Electrokinetic (EK) techniques rely on the application of electric fields to enhance species mobility in porous media and have a great potential in many fields of science and engineering. This project focuses on their application for remediation of contaminated sites and, in particular, on the coupling of electrokinetics with in situ contaminant biodegradation.

We explore the impact of imposed external electric fields on the degradation potential, kinetics and growth of bacteria capable of degrading organic contaminants. In a series of laboratory experiments, we systematically investigate the effects of different EK operational conditions (e.g., applied voltage, electric current, ionic strength of the aqueous solution) on the microbial activity and on the contaminant biodegradation. Furthermore, we perform EK transport experiments in multidimensional porous media to demonstrate the capability of electrokinetics to effectively deliver substrates and stimulate biodegradation in poorly accessible low-permeability zones.

The expected results and mechanistic understanding from this research project will be of key importance for larger scale field applications of EK-enhanced bioremediation and will allow extending the proposed approach within and beyond the field of soil and groundwater remediation.