Sustainability study of the application of geosynthetic clay liners in hostile and aggressive environments

This paper discusses the sustainable performance of geosynthetic clay liners (GCLs) which are popularly specified as “leachate retaining” or as “water proofing” membranes in the geo-environmental construction industry. Geosynthetic clay liners (GCLs) are composite matting comprising of bentonite clay with two covering geosynthetics. These are innovative labour saving construction material, developed over the last three decades. The paper outlines the variety of Geosynthetic Clay Liners (GCLs) can be classified essentially into two distinctly different forms viz; (a) air dry (< 8% m/c) with granular or powdered bentonite or (b) bentonite cake factory prehydrated to a moisture content (~40% m/c) beyond its shrinkage limit and vacuum extruded as a clay cake to enhance its sustainable performance. The dominant mineral in bentonite clay is the three-layered (2:1) clay mineral montmorillonite. High quality bentonites need to be used in the GCL manufacture. Sodium montmorillonite has the desired characteristic of high swelling capacity, high cation exchange capacity and the consequently very low hydraulic conductivity, providing the basis for the hydraulic sealing medium in GCLs. These encapsulate the active montmorillonite clay minerals which depend on the water and chemical balance between the sealing element and the surrounding geo environment. Quantitative mineralogical analyses and an assessment of the adsorbed cation regime, diffusion coefficients and clay leachate compatibility must necessarily be an integral part of the site appraisal to ensure acceptable long term sustainability and performance. Factors influencing the desired performance of bentonite in the GCLs placed in difficult construction and hostile chemical environments are discussed in this paper. Accordingly, the performance specifications for GCLs are identified and the appropriateness of enhancing the cation exchange capacity with polymer treatment and the need for factory prehydration of the untreated sodium bentonite is emphasised. The advantage of factory prehydrating the polymer treated bentonite to fluid content beyond its shrinkage limit and subsequently factory processing it to develop laminated clay is to develop a GCL that has enviable sealing characteristics with a greater resistance to geochemical attack and cracking. Since clay liners are buried in the ground as base liners, capping layer or as structural water proofing membrane, they can easily avoid strict quality and performance monitoring being “out of sight, out of mind!”. It is very necessary that barrier design for leachate containment must necessarily be in accordance with legislative requirement Assessment of long term hydraulic conductivities and clay-leachate compatibility assessment is deemed necessary. The derogatory factors affecting the sustainable performance of the bentonite in GCLs placed in difficult construction and hostile chemical environments are discussed. Sustainability concepts incorporated in waste management practice must aim to achieve 100% recycling and fully implement the handling of solid waste in developing countries with relatively lower labour costs.

Gas flow unified measurement system for sequential measurement of gas diffusion and gas permeability of partially hydrated geosynthetic clay liners

A gas flow unified measurement system (UMS-G) for sequential measurement of gas diffusion and gas permeability of geosynthetic clay liners (GCLs) under applied stress conditions (2 to 20 kPa) is described. Measurements made with the UMS-G are compared with measurements made with conventional experimental devices and are found to give similar results. The UMS-G removes the need to rely on two separate systems and increases further the reliability of the gas properties’ measurements. This study also shows that the gas diffusion and gas permeability reduce greatly with the increase of both gravimetric water content and apparent degree of saturation. The effect of applied stress on gas diffusion and gas permeability is found to be more pronounced at gravimetric water content greater than 60%. These findings suggest that at a nominal overburden stress of 20 kPa, the GCL used in the present investigation needs to be hydrated to 134% gravimetric water content (65% apparent degree of saturation) before gas diffusion and gas permeability drop to 5.5 × 10−11 m2·s−1 and 8.0 × 10−13 m·s−1, respectively, and to an even higher gravimetric water content (apparent degrees of saturation) at lower stress.

Fluid loss as a quick method to evaluate the hydraulic conductivity of geosynthetic clay liners under acidic conditions

This study investigates the performance of bentonite components of geosynthetic clay liners (GCLs) when exposed to aggressive leachates using the fluid loss test and provides a possible quick method for estimating the effect of acidic conditions on hydraulic conductivity. Fluid loss generally increases with increasing acid concentrations. Hydraulic conductivity values back-calculated from the fluid loss tests (kFL) are compared with the values measured using a flexible-wall permeameter (kTri).Generally, the predicted hydraulic conductivity values are conservative (kFL/kTri > 1) under water and low acid concentrations(≤0.015 mol/L). However, the back-calculated hydraulic conductivity is shown to be nonconservative (kFL/kTri < 1) at high acid concentrations (≥0.125 mol/L).

Hydraulic performance of geosynthetic clay liners to sulfuric acid solutions

The ability of geosynthetic clay liners (GCLs) to contain acidic mining leachates is examined. The results of saturated hydraulic conductivity (k) of two GCLs permeated with sulfuric acid solutions (H2SO4) at 0.015M, 0.125M and 0.5M concentrations are reported. Also, the saturated k values of consolidated (35kPa) bentonite cakes made from sodium bentonite extracted from both GCLs were compared to a commonly used magnesium-sodium form bentonite. Chemical compatibility and effects of pre-hydration and effective stress were assessed as part of this study. Results indicated that an increased acid concentration (ionic strength) increased the k of all tested specimens. The ratio of the k0.5 values for non-prehydrated specimens permeated with 0.5M H2SO4 to the kw values for specimens permeated with deionized (DI) water (k0.5/kw) ranged from 10 to 110. Pre-hydration (50-140% water content) and increased effective stress (35-200kPa) improved the performance of GCLs (lower k). Strong correlations were observed between k and liquid limit and swell index parameters independent of pre-hydration and effective stress in this study. However, care should still be taken when using these correlations to evaluate hydraulic performance because the intrinsic micro-structure properties of bentonite, such as porosity, should also be considered. This work showed that, for example, high SI of bentonite does not translate necessarily to a better hydraulic performance of GCLs.

Acid induced degradation of the bentonite component used in geosynthetic clay liners

Bentonite is a natural clay mineral widely used in the mining and solid waste containment industry, for example, as a soil mixture for the construction of seepage barriers, or as a component of geosynthetic clay liners (GCLs), to provide low hydraulic conductivity. However, degradation of bentonites generally occurs when permeated with acid solutions, such as encountered in mining applications, which may influence physical properties, and particularly, the hydraulic performance of geosynthetic clay liners.In this paper, properties such as Atterberg limits, free swell index, and fluid loss of three bentonites were measured with different concentrations of sulphuric acid solutions. These properties were found to deteriorate even with low (0.015 M) sulphuric acid solutions; higher concentrations (up to 1 M) resulted in larger degradation. X-ray diffraction and infrared spectroscopy were used to monitor the change of bentonites after interaction with the acid solutions. Acid leachates in general result in the overall degradation of the hydraulic performance of geosynthetic clay liners and potentially, any bentonite-soil mixture.

Applicability and accuracy of the initially dry and initially wet contact filter paper tests for matric suction measurement of geosynthetic clay liners.

An initially wet contact filter paper test (IW-CFPT) and an initially dry contact filter paper test (ID-CFPT) were used to examine the wetting paths of geosynthetic clay liners, including non-contact filter paper tests for comparative purposes. The CFPTs were applied to both geosynthetic clay liner faces to examine the effect of geotextile type on capillary contact. The non-woven geotextile face was found to be more likely to cause capillary breaks than the woven geotextile face. Both IW- and ID-CFPTs were found to be applicable to geosynthetic clay liners within their accurate upper matric suction measurement limits of 146 kPa and 66 kPa, respectively.

Potential hydraulic barrier performance of cyclic organic carbonate modified bentonite complexes against hyper salinity

The effect of adding glycerol carbonate (GC) or propylene carbonate (PC) to sodium (Na)-bentonite on the hydraulic performance of geosynthetic clay liners (GCLs) under hypersaline conditions is examined. Fluid loss (FL), swell index (SI) and solution retention capacity (SRC) measurements were carried out to compare the potential hydraulic performance of these two cyclic organic carbonates (COCs) as bentonite modifiers. A modified FL test enabled quantitative measurement of both the water retention characteristics of untreated and COC modified bentonites as well as calculation of hydraulic conductivity values. Tests under aggressively saline conditions (ionic strength, I ≥ 1 M of NaCl and ≥3 M of CaCl2) showed that at a mass ratio of 1:1 (GC to bentonite), the FL of a GC-Na-bentonite was ≈40–104 mL in NaCl and ≈61–91 mL in CaCl2. This was about 10–20 mL and 70–200 mL, respectively, lower than that of a comparable PC-Na-bentonite (1:1 PC to bentonite) and untreated Na-bentonite. Greater swelling (SI) and greater solution retention capacity (SRC) was observed for the GC treated Na-bentonite compared to untreated Na-bentonite in all salt solutions, and for PC-Na-bentonite at high ionic strength of both NaCl and CaCl2 solutions, demonstrating the superior hydraulic barrier performance of COC-bentonites under severely saline conditions. Experiments conducted in flexible-wall permeameters with I = 3 M CaCl2 showed approximately one order of magnitude lower (∼10−11 m/s vs ∼1.9 × 10−10 m/s) hydraulic conductivity of GC treated bentonite cake compared to the k value of the untreated Na-bentonite cake. Calculated hydraulic conductivity from fluid loss tests estimated the measured values in a conservative way (overestimation).

Geosynthetics in Antarctica: performance of a composite barrier system to contain hydrocarbon-contaminated soil after three years in the field

An overview of the design and performance of geosynthetics in composite barrier systems for biopiles used to remediate hydrocarbon-contaminated soil at Casey Station, Antarctica, is presented. Seven instrumented biopiles were constructed over three field seasons. To minimize the risk of hydrocarbon migration to groundwater, composite barrier systems were used (each using different combinations of geosynthetic clay liners (GCLs), high density polyethylene (HDPE) geomembranes (GMB), and geotextiles (GTXs)). One biopile used a co-extruded geomembrane (HDPE with an ethylene vinyl alcohol (EVOH) core). The liner system was subject to a combination of coupled phenomena that could interact and affect the GMB-GCL composite barrier performance. The exposure conditions involved potential freeze-thaw cycling, hydration-desiccation cycles, cation exchange, direct and diffusive exposure to hydrocarbons. The effect of these phenomena was investigated by monitoring GCL and GMB sacrificial coupons. GCL coupons were placed between the main GCL component and the main geomembrane component of the composite liner and GMB coupons placed between the main GMB sheet and the GTX protection layer. Coupons were exhumed from the biopiles each year. The exhumed GCL field moisture content values ranged from 162% to 22%. After three (3) years in the field, GCL coupons that had undergone at least one hydration/desiccation cycle showed no significant change in swell index values or fluid loss values. The measured hydraulic conductivity of exhumed GCL coupons from Biopiles 1 and 2 (3 × 10-11 m s-1) was within the expected range and not significantly different from the values for virgin GCL. GMB coupons exhumed after three years from Biopiles 1 and 2 showed no significant change in oxidative induction time (OIT), melt flow index or tensile properties. Diffusion tests were performed as an index test for establishing the performance of the GMBs as a diffusive barrier to hydrocarbons, with permeation parameters for BTEX contaminants ranging from P g = 0.9-9.2 × 10-13 m2 s-1 for the exhumed GMB (with values depending on the contaminant and GMB). These values were similar to the parameters obtained for virgin GMBs and there was no significant change with field exposure, with GMBs appearing to be performing well.

Gas permeability of partially hydrated geosynthetic clay liner under two stress conditions

The results of a series of gas permeability tests, with monitoring of gravimetric/volumetric moisture content and total suction, on a commercially available needle-punched geosynthetic clay liner (GCL) are presented. GCL specimens were partially hydrated with deionised water under 2 and 20 kPa confinement prior to testing. The tests were conducted at differential pressures ranging from 1 to 10 kPa. Gas permeability was found to decrease with an increase in gravimetric/volumetric moisture content and a decrease of suction. The effect of the preconditioning stress was found to be more pronounced at gravimetric moisture contents greater than 40% (25% apparent degree of saturation, 0·30 m3/m3 volumetric moisture content), and suctions less than 1·6 MPa.

Evaluation of bentonite and sand mixtures as liners

Compacted clay liners are widely used for waste contaminant facilities because of their low cost, large leachate attenuation capacity and resistance to damage and puncture. Commonly used bentonite possess many limitations such as high swelling and shrinkage potential, sensitivity to waste fluid characteristics etc. The paper proposes the use of bentonite-sand mixture containing optimal clay content as liner material. It has been brought out, based on detailed geotechnical investigations, that a mixture containing only about 20 to 39% of bentonite is more suited than the clay alone and they possess.

Studies on the Development and Control of Desiccation cracks in compacted clay liner soils

The present study aimed at critically looking at the current practice of the installation of compacted clay liner using bentonite enhanced sand (BES). The application of bentonite is currently the most accepted practice for lining purposes. The ideal bentonite sand combination, which satisfies the liner requirements is 20% bentonite and 80% sand, was selected as one of the liner materials for the investigation of development of desiccation cracks. Locally available sundried marine clay and its combination with bentonite were also included in the study. The desiccation tests on liner materials were conducted for wet/dry cycles to simulate the seasonal variations. Digital image processing techniques were used to measure the crack intensity factor (CIF), a useful and effective parameter for quantification of desiccation cracking. The repeatability of the tests could be well established, as the variation in CIF values of identical samples had a very narrow range of 0 to 2%. The studies on the development of desiccation cracks showed that the CIF of bentonite enhanced sand mixture (BES) was 18.09%, 39.75% and 21.22% for the first, second and third cycles respectively, while it was only 9.83%, 7.52% and 4.58% respectively for sun dried marine clay (SMC). Thus the locally available, alternate liner material suggested, viz SMC, is far superior to BES, when subjected to alternate wet/dry cycles. Further, the improvement of these liner materials when amended with randomly distributed fibre reinforcements was also investigated. Three types of fibres ,namely nylon fibre, polypropylene monofilament and polypropylene fibre mesh were used for the study of fibre amended BES and SMC.The influence of these amendments on the properties of the above liner materials is also studied. The results showed that there is definite improvement in the properties of the liner materials when it is reinforced with discrete random fibres. The study also proved that the desiccation cracks could be controlled with the help of fibre reinforcement.

Fly ash as a pre-filter material for the retention of lead ions

Clay liners have been widely used to contain toxic and hazardous waste materials. Clays absorb contaminant cations due to their exchange capacity. To improve the performance of the clay liner, fly ash, a waste material arising from the combustion of coal has been studied as a pre-filter material. In particular, the retention of lead by two different fly ashes was studied. The influence of pH on retention as well as leaching characteristics are also examined. The results obtained from the retention experiments by the permeameter method indicate that fly ash retains the lead ions through precipitation in the pores as well as onto the surface when the ambient pH value is more than 5.5, and through adsorption when the pH value is less than 5.5. It has been observed that fly ash did not release the retained lead ions when the pH value is between 3.5 and 10.0. Hence, the retention of lead ions by fly ash is likely to be permanent since the pH of most of the municipal landfill leachates are within 3.7 to 8.8. However, for highly acidic or alkaline leachates, the retained ions can get released.

Influence of pH on the retention of heavy metal ions by fly ash

Clay liners have been widely used to contain toxic and hazardous wastes. Clays adsorb the contaminant cations due to their exchange capacity. To improve the performance of the clay liner, fly ash, a waste material arising out of combustion of coal has been studied as a pre-filter material. The results indicate that fly ash has the potential to retain heavy metal ions. This study concerns the retention of zinc by fly ash. The influence of pH on retention as well as leaching characteristics are examined. The results obtained from the retention experiments by permeameter method indicate that fly ash retains the zinc ions through precipitation in the pores as well as onto the surface when the ambient pH value is more than 6.9, and only through adsorption when the pH value is less than 6.9. It has been observed that fly ash did not release the retained zinc ions when the pH value is between 3.5 and 10.0. Hence, the retention of zinc ions by fly ash is likely to be permanent since the pH of most of the landfill leachates are between 3.7 to 8.8.

Measurement of permeability using a bench-top centrifuge

The commonly used British Standard constant head triaxial permeability test for testing of fine-grained soils is relatively time consuming. A reduction in the required time for soil permeability testing would provide potential cost savings to the construction industry, particularly in the construction quality assurance of landfill clay liners. The purpose of this paper is to evaluate an alternative approach of measuring permeability of fine-grained soils benefiting from accelerated time scaling for seepage flow when testing specimens in elevated gravity conditions provided by a centrifuge. As part of the investigation, an apparatus was designed and produced to measure water flow through soil samples under conditions of elevated gravitational acceleration using a small desktop laboratory centrifuge. A membrane was used to hydrostatically confine the test sample. A miniature data acquisition system was designed and incorporated in the apparatus to monitor and record changes in head and flow throughout the tests. Under enhanced gravity in the centrifuge, the flow through the sample was under ‘variable head' conditions as opposed to ‘constant head' conditions as in the classic constant head permeability tests conducted at 1 g . A mathematical model was developed for analysis of Darcy's coefficient of permeability under conditions of elevated gravitational acceleration and verified using the results obtained. The test data compare well with the results on analogous samples obtained using the classical British Standard constant head permeability tests.

Influence of testing on permeability of compacted fine soils

The British standard constant-head triaxial test for measuring the permeability of fine-grained soils takes a relatively long time. A quicker test could provide savings to the construction industry, particularly for checking the quality of landfill clay liners. An accelerated permeability test has been developed, but the method often underestimates the permeability values compared owing to structural changes in the soil sample. This paper reports on an investigation
into the accelerated test to discover if the changes can be limited by using a revised procedure. The accelerated test is assessed and compared with the standard test and a ramp-accelerated permeability test. Four different finegrained materials are compacted at various water contents to produce analogous samples for testing using the three different methods. Fabric analysis is carried out on specimens derived from post-test samples using mercury intrusion porosimetry and scanning electron microscopy to assess the effects of testing on soil structure. The results show that accelerated testing in general underestimates permeability compared with values derived from the standard test, owing to changes in soil structure caused by testing. The ramp-accelerated test is shown to provide an improvement in terms of these structural changes.