Shahrood University of Technology Journal of Mining and Environment 2251-8592 16 4 2025 07 01 Simultaneous Application of Electrokinetic and Washing Solvents for the Decontamination of Zn and Pb from tailings of Angouran lead and Zinc Mine 1471 1485 3310 10.22044/jme.2024.14913.2836 EN Amirhossein Karimi Faculty of Civil Engineering., Shahrood University of Technology, Shahrood, Iran Amin Falamaki Department of Civil Engineering, Payame Noor University, P.O. Box 19395-3697, Tehran, Iran Farid Soltani Department of Civil Engineering, Iran Univ. of Science and Technology, Narmak, Tehran 16844, Iran Mehdi Homaee Department of Soil Science, Tarbiat Modares University, Tehran14115-336, Iran Agrohydrology Research Group (Grant No. IG-39713), Tarbiat Modares University, Tehran 14115, Iran Nader Shariatmadari Department of Civil Engineering, Iran Univ. of Science and Technology, Narmak, Tehran 16844, Iran Journal Article 2024 08 10 Mining activities have led to the accumulation of large quantities of mineral tailings containing potentially hazardous metals, contaminating the surrounding soil. This study investigated the effectiveness of electrokinetic remediation combined with washing solvents for the decontamination of zinc and lead from mine tailings. Samples were collected from various locations within the Angouran mine in Zanjan, Iran, and analyzed for total metal concentration using the standard ICP method. Electrokinetic tests were conducted using different washing solutions—hydrochloric acid, nitric acid, acetic acid, and sulfuric acid—each at a concentration of 0.1 M and mixed with soil in a 1:2 solution-to-solid ratio. A voltage of 1.5 V/cm was applied throughout the experiments. To mitigate heavy metal precipitation near the cathode, the same chemical solutions were used in the cathode chamber. The results demonstrated that distilled water resulted in the lowest removal efficiency for zinc (16%) and lead (11.5%), while hydrochloric acid showed the highest removal efficiencies of 64% for zinc and 45% for lead. These findings indicated that electrokinetic remediation, particularly when using hydrochloric acid as a complexing agent, was an effective method for removing significant quantities of zinc and lead from contaminated soil. https://jme.shahroodut.ac.ir/article_3310_1460948da50039dfb1e2387a53ae9046.pdf