Assessment of heavy metals in Malacca river water using electrokinetic technique

Malacca river water has been classified as a polluted river due to the contaminations of heavy metal. The heavy metal would be affecting human and ecosystem. This study was carried out to investigate the efficiency of electro kinetic remediation for Malacca River water which is contaminated with Cd, Zn and Ni. The evaluation for the effect of time, voltage and distance between electrode in electrokinetic process on the removal efficiency of Cd, Zn and Ni from Malacca River water and the study on the changes of pH of river water before and after the process. The experiment was carried out to investigate the effect of the removal by using a different value of voltage (i.e. 30, 60 and 90 V), different electrode distances (i.e. 10, 15 and 20 cm) and different operational time (i.e. 10, 20 and 30 min). The composition of heavy metal in the river was determined by using ICP-MS. The surface of the electrode and the pH of river water was observed by using SEM-EDX and pH meter respectively. The optimal removal was observed at a voltage of 90 V, with an electrode distance of 10cm and operational time of 30 min. The pH water was acidic which below than 7 after the electrokinetic process. It can be concluded that the use of electrokinetic technique has the potential to be an effective method to remove heavy metal with 50% of removal efficiency