Abstract EANA2024-57

Electric field gradients have been utilised to assess electrokinetics in order to mobilise and spatially manipulate matter for many years. Important applications include dewatering [Adamson et al 1966; Fourie and Jones 2010], soil stabilisation [Adamson et al 1966], soil remediation [Acar et al 1993; Lageman et al 2004; M.A. Martinez-Prado et al., 2014; Torres C. et al 2018; Crongale et al 2020], and enhanced fluid mobility for mining and oil industries [Matthew D. Jackson et al., 2016] amongst other cases. It has been also used for DNA extraction, cell manipulation and chemical synthesis [Biscombe CJC 2017].

We investigate the possibility and feasibility of using electrokinetic phenomena  in the planetary surface environment. There are very few references in the literature on this specific topic; notably, two research papers dating back in 1964 and 1991 that indicate that electroosmosis (flow of water in porous materials) can also occur in frozen soils or near 0℃ conditions (Hoekstra, P., & Chamberlain, E. (1964); Wim van Gassen and D.C. Sego, 1991). These works also highlight the possibility of applying electrokinetics on Mars permafrost. Such a rationale is further enhanced considering the remote detection of water-rich areas on Mars, as ice caps or permafrost in transient liquid brines in the upper layers of the Martian soil [Feldman, W. C., et al. (2004); Mcewen et al (2011); Martín-Torres FJ et al. (2015)], the planet’s seasonality, which near the equatorial areas can periodically raise the surface temperature above 0℃ for about 100 days annually [Certini et al. 2020]. Additionally, salinity and insulation properties of soil formations, coupled with heating phenomena that can occur  when electricity is applyied to soils potentially raising the temperature to more than 40 oC, and thus they must also be accounted as important parameters [Torres C. et al 2018].

Our investigation has led to the development of a number of experimental apparatuses to accommodate different application approaches and explore a variety of research questions. Amongst the different parameters, was the shape, size, and type of the apparatuses or the electrodes used, the soil medium composition, the electrolytic solution, the water content or wetness of the soil medium, as well as, the electric parameters of voltage and amperage. As soil media, we used pure mineral phases, such as kaolinite, as well as analogue, i.e. basalt, and simulant materials collected and developed by our team [Stavrakakis et al, 2022]

Additionally, the application of this technique produces many side advantages that can also be used individually notably, stabilisation of soil for construction, extraction of heavy metals from soils due to leaching, and production of hydrogen and oxygen gases as by products due to electrolysis. Furthermore, a number of studies have used the phenomena of electrokinetics as an enhancer for microbiobial community development, which either aids the primary processes of the electrokinetic procedures or occurs as a side positive effect. [M.A. Martinez-Prado et al., 2014, Crongale et al 2020]

References

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