Reversible electrokinetic adsorption barriers for the removal of atrazine and oxyfluorfen from spiked soils

•REKAB technology efficiently removes atrazine and oxyfluorfen from soil.•Synergistic interaction between electrokinetics and GAC permeable reactive barrier.•Significant carbon bed-adsorption mechanism for atrazine and oxyfluorfen.•Volatilization of herbicides is prevented in the REKAB technology.•Reversible changes in the polarity control avoid extreme pH values. This study demonstrates the application of reversible electrokinetic adsorption barrier (REKAB) technology to soils spiked with low-solubility pollutants. A permeable reactive barrier (PRB) of granular activated carbon (GAC) was placed between the anode and cathode of an electrokinetic (EK) soil remediation bench-scale setup with the aim of enhancing the removal of two low-solubility herbicides (atrazine and oxyfluorfen) using a surfactant solution (sodium dodecyl sulfate) as the flushing fluid. This innovative study focused on evaluating the interaction between the EK system and the GAC-PRB, attempting to obtain insights into the primary mechanisms involved. The obtained results highlighted the successful treatment of atrazine and oxyfluorfen in contaminated soils. The results obtained from the tests after 15days of treatment were compared with those obtained using the more conventional electrokinetic soil flushing (EKSF) technology, and very important differences were observed. Although both technologies are efficient for removing the herbicides from soils, REKAB outperforms EKSF. After the 15-day treatment tests, only approximately 10% of atrazine and oxyfluorfen remained in the soil, and adsorption onto the GAC bed was an important removal mechanism (15–17% of herbicide retained). The evaporation loses in REKAB were lower than those obtained in EKSF (45–50% compared to 60–65%).