Chemical Compatibility of Slurry Trench Cutoff Wall Backfills Comprised of SHMP-Amended Ca-Bentonites in Lead-Contaminated Solutions: Hydraulic Conductivity Assessment

Author(s):  
Yu-Ling Yang ◽  
Yan-Jun Du ◽  
Krishna R. Reddy ◽  
Ri-Dong Fan
Author(s):  
Yu-Ling Yang ◽  
Krishna R. Reddy ◽  
Wen-Jie Zhang ◽  
Ri-Dong Fan ◽  
Yan-Jun Du

This study investigated the feasibility of using sodium hexametaphosphate (SHMP)- amended calcium (Ca) bentonite in backfills for slurry trench cutoff walls for the containment of lead (Pb) contamination in groundwater. Backfills composed of 80 wt% sand and 20 wt% either Ca-bentonite or SHMP-amended Ca-bentonite were tested for hydraulic conductivity and sorption properties by conducting laboratory flexible-wall hydraulic conductivity tests and batch isothermal sorption experiments, respectively. The results showed that the SHMP amendment causes a one order of magnitude decrease in hydraulic conductivity of the backfill using tap water (1.9 to 3.0 × 10−10 m/s). Testing using 1000 mg/L Pb solution resulted insignificant variation in hydraulic conductivity of the amended backfill. Moreover, SHMP-amendment induced favorable conditions for increased sorption capacity of the backfill, with 1.5 times higher retardation factor relative to the unamended backfill. The Pb transport modeling through an hypothetical 1-m-thick slurry wall composed of amended backfill revealed 12 to 24 times of longer breakthrough time for Pb migration as compared to results obtained for the same thickness slurry wall with unamended backfill, which is attributed to decrease in seepage velocity combined with increase in retardation factor of the backfill with SHMP amendment. Overall, SHMP is shown to be a promising Ca-bentontie modifier for use in backfill for slurry trench cutoff wall for effective containment of Pb-contaminated groundwater.


2002 ◽  
Vol 39 (3) ◽  
pp. 597-607 ◽  
Author(s):  
J K Kodikara ◽  
F Rahman ◽  
S L Barbour

Chemical compatibility tests using hydraulic conductivity testing with chemical permeants are normally undertaken to assess the integrity of compacted clayey liners used for waste containment. This paper highlights the fact that current routine methods of flexible wall and rigid wall testing techniques fail to represent the zero lateral strain boundary condition that is required to realistically represent the field situation. The test results indicate that flexible wall permeameters underestimate the likely increases in hydraulic conductivity due to chemicals, while the rigid wall permeameters can severely overestimate these effects. A new test technique, which incorporates the zero lateral strain condition in a simple manner, is presented. This technique involves the use of a rigid wall concept in a flexible wall permeameter. A split rigid mould is used to encase the soil specimen that is glued to the internal surfaces of the mould, to apply the zero lateral strain boundary condition. The new technique is shown to be suitable for both chemical compatibility and desiccation testing. The tests were undertaken with varying concentrations of saline water, methanol, and landfill leachate. The test results indicate that the new technique produces results that fall between the results obtained from flexible wall and rigid wall permeameters. It is argued that the new test technique provides a more rational approach for chemical compatibility testing than the current rigid wall and flexible wall techniques.Key words: soil, hydraulic conductivity, chemical compatibility, landfill, permeameter, boundary condition.


Author(s):  
Jeffrey C. Evans ◽  
Daniel Ruffing

Author(s):  
Daniel Ruffing ◽  
Jeffrey Evans ◽  
Nathan Coughenour

2021 ◽  
Vol 2021 ◽  
pp. 1-12
Author(s):  
Ridong Fan ◽  
Yuling Yang ◽  
Songyu Liu

Soil-bentonite cutoff walls, consisting of excavated in situ soil and bentonite as backfills, are used extensively as vertical barriers for groundwater pollution control. Sand mixed with high-quality natural sodium bentonite (NaB) is commonly used as a research object to investigate the hydraulic and compression properties of soil-bentonite backfills. However, pure sand could rarely be found in real conditions, and natural NaB may not be available readily in some countries such as China, India, and Turkey. This paper presents a comprehensive laboratory investigation on the compressibility and hydraulic conductivity (k) of soil-bentonite backfills created by simulated in situ soil and low-quality sodium activated calcium bentonite (SACaB). The simulated in situ soils are prepared using sand-natural clay mixtures with sand to natural clay mass ratios ranging from 0.5 to 6.0, and the bentonite content (BC) in the base mixture ranges from 0 to 15%. The result indicates that BC dominates the compression index (Cc) of the backfill, and a unique relationship between void ratio at effective vertical compression stress of 1 kPa and compression index is proposed for various types of soil-bentonite backfills. An increase in either BC or clay size fraction (CF) in simulated in situ contributes to reducing k, but the impact of CF in simulated in situ soil on k tends to be insignificant for backfill with BC higher than 6%. A new characteristic parameter based on the concept of void ratio of bentonite (eb), named apparent void ratio of clay size fraction (eC), is developed for predicting soil-bentonite backfills created by in situ soils and bentonites with various contents.


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