Electrokinetics
Traditional geosynthetics and industrial textiles are used in the civil, mining, environmental and waste engineering industries to carry out a range of functions which include drainage, reinforcement, filtration, separation, containment, encapsulation and sorption.
All of these functions, in one way or another, are influenced or limited by the rate at which water is able to flow through the materials with which the geosynthetics are being used to improve or treat.
The technology
In use most geosynthetics play a passive role, e.g. geomembrane barriers stop the passage of liquids; soil reinforcement provides tensile resistance, but only after an initial strain has occurred; and drains provide a passage for water but do not cause the water to flow towards the drain.
New applications for geosynthetics have been identified if they can provide an active role, initiating biological, chemical or physical change to the matrix in which they are installed as well as providing the established functions.
This can be achieved by combining the electrokinetic phenomena of electroosmosis, electrophoresis and associated electrokinetic functions such as electrolysis with the traditional functions of geosynthetics of drainage, filtration, containment and reinforcement to form electokinetic geosynthetics (EKG).
