Grant: College - University Idea to Innovation Grants

The goal of this project to develop a new low-cost in-situ remediation technique based on the use of an electric field applied among closely spaced permeable electrodes to treat high salinity contaminated soil. The project will include both laboratory and field scale experimentation. Laboratory bench-scale experiments will investigate the effect of electrode geometry and material selection on the process efficiency. During this phase of the project, we will also test and select suitable industrial pH sensor probes that will be used to monitor the remedial process during the field experimentation. A field-deployable system configured to operate autonomously will be designed, fabricated and deployed in a trial designed to validate the results obtained at bench scale. Data and results from this field trial are of use in the implementation of electrokinetic remediation of remote salt-impacted soils and will lead to the establishment of this technology for different companies in Western Canada, starting with Imperial Oil. This project will enable advancements in the knowledge of electrokinetic ion transport in clay rich soils and cast light on the correlation between transport phenomena, electrode geometry and the materials used to build them. This project represents the first example of an autonomous system for the remediation of salt impacted sites in the oil and gas industry.