A Study on Hydraulic Properties of Compacted Fe(III)-montmorillonite

Abstract

Hydraulic conductivities were determined for compacted Fe(III)-montmorillonite sample. The Fe(III)-montmorillonite sample used in this study, which was prepared by the ion-exchange treatment of Namontmorillonite in FeCl3 solution, contains less than 20% of Na+ ions as exchangeable cations and negligibly small amounts of iron precipitates. The measured hydraulic conductivities of compacted Fe(III)-montmorillonite were determined to be the order of 10−9, 10−11, and 10−13 ms−1 at dry densities of 0.80, 1.01, and 1.20 Mgm−3, respectively. These values were found to be kept constant during the experimental period, suggesting no significant change in the physicochemical properties of Fe(III)-montmorillonite during the experiment. When compared with Na-montmorillonite, remarkably high values of hydraulic conductivities were found for Fe(III)-montmorillonite at the dry densities of 0.8 and 1.0Mgm−3. On the other hand, almost the same value of hydraulic conductivity was obtained at the dry density around 1.2Mgm−3. This different effect of exchangeable cations on the hydraulic conductivity of montmorillonite could be attributed to the different sizes of macropores in compacted montmorillonite and/or the different thicknesses of electrical double layers formed over montmorillonite sheets.