Modeling of electrodialytic and dialytic removal of Cr, Cu and As from CCA-treated wood chips

A one-dimensional model is developed for simulating the electrodialytic and dialytic treatment of a saturated bed of wood chips containing chromium, copper and arsenic. The movement of Cr, Cu and As is mathematically modeled taking into account the diffusion transport resulting from the concentration gradients of their compounds and the electromigration of their ionic, simple and complex species during the operation.

The model also includes the electromigration of the non-contaminant principal ionic species in the system, H+ and OH, proceeding from the electrolysis at the electrodes, Na+ and NO3 used as electrolyte solutions in the electrode compartments, and oxalate ions and protons incorporated with the oxalic acid solution during wood chips incubation.

The model simulation also takes into account that OH generated on the cathode, during electrodialytic remediation, is periodically neutralized by addition of nitric acid in the cathode compartment. The anion and cation-exchange membranes are simply represented as ionic filters that preclude the transport of co-ions (the cations and anions respectively) with the exception of H+, which is retarded but considered to pass through the anion-exchange membrane.