Recent researches revealed the significance of chemo-osmosis and mineral surface charge on solute transport in porous media. The longterm environmental assessments of landfill liners and sludge dewatering have become major concerns in many countries with the rapid expansion of civilization and urbanization. A new model was proposed to address the coupling effects of hydraulic

electrical and osmotic fields on solute transport and sludge dewatering. The coupled partial differential equations were solved numerically by finite element method along with a well configured moving boundary. For solute transport in landfill liner system

the increase in chemo-osmotic coefficient and the enhanced streaming potential constant

which is relevant to the increased net surface charge

leads to leveling off of or delayed breakthrough of toxicant at the outlet boundary. Regarding the sludge dewatering

the finite element analysis indicates that the hydraulic conductivity and electro-osmotic constant are the dominating factors during press filtration and electrokinetic dewatering. Pore blocking is considered as a major difficulty in filtration and dewatering processes. The filter cake formed in front of membrane filter contributes a lot to the reduction in solvent flux under certain dewatering conditions.