Evaluación de la influencia de distintos niveles de intensidad de corriente en la técnica de electrorremediación para relaves mineros contaminados por Pb y Hg provenientes de Ponce Enríquez, Azuay.

Abstract

The goal of this research was to determine the best electro-kinetic treatment to remedy contaminated mine tailings with heavy metals lead (Pb) and Mercury (Hg) by using the electro remediation technique.For this study,mining tailings samples were extracted from "La Lopez" sector located in Ponce Enríquez cantón belonging to Azuay province ,an initial analysis was carried out to know the physical ,chemical and mineralogical properties.The electro-kinetic treatment was conducted using a glass cell with a capacity of 1200 cm3 to hold the sample,the distance between the anode and cathode electrodes was 15 cm ,with wells of 2.5 cm each .containing 95 ml from electrolytic was solutions such as 0.1 M glacial acetic acid and white vinegar ,the electrode material was varied alternating between graphite and chromed steel ,each treatment lasted 24 hours and was subjected to an electric field with a constant voltage of 45 V ,changing current intensity (1 A and 2 A ) ,a 600g sample of mining tailings was worked with ,conditioned with a 0.1 M iron sulfate moisturizer solution. After having performed the four electro kinetic treatments to remedy lead and Mercury ,it was concluded that occupying a current intensity of 2 A ,with a constant voltage of 45 V ,using graphite as electrode material and glacial acetic acid as electrolytic solution,removal efficiencies of 51.52% for lead and 39.56% for mercury can be obtained ,it was also verified after ionic migration analysis that the metals present in the system tend to be directed to the anodic region. After performing an electro-kinetic process ,the combination of techniques such as phytoremediation is recommended to return the real properties of a productive soil.