Experimental study on moisture evaporation of lime wastes and marine clay: implications for landfill storage management

Abstract

A large quantity of by-product lime wastes with high water content produced from chemicals manufacturing processes has been stacked in an open area in Incheon, Korea. Highly alkaline leachate and fine dust emanating from the stacked lime wastes caused an environmental concern in the city. So evaporative drying and stabilization of the fine-grained wastes and use of the on site marine clay as a natural geomembrane liner using drying hardening were considered as a part of a landfill construction plan. Treatment of the lime wastes and marine clay was focused on maximizing the evaporative drying and the density. Evaporation experiments were conducted in field condition to understand evaporation characteristics and to evaluate actual evaporation rate of the lime wastes and marine clay. Local Class A pan evaporation data from a nearby weather station for last 30 years indicated that mean annual and monthly evaporations were 1,178.5 and 98.2 mm, respectively. Relative evaporations of the sludge lime, cake lime, and marine clay compared with the pan evaporation were 114.9, 61.9, and 119.0%, respectively. Estimates of annual evaporations from storage surfaces in the field based on the relative evaporation data were 1,353.6, 729.1, and 1,402.2 mm for the sludge lime, cake lime, and the marine clay, respectively. And annual net evaporations considering rainfall effect were estimated as between 879.9 and 1,082.9 mm for the lime sludge, between 473.9 and 583.3 mm for the lime cake, and between 981.5 and 1,191.9 mm for the marine clay. It was expected that the actual field evaporation rate would be varied with the moisture contents of the lime and the clay. Results of these experiments will provide useful implications for the drying behavior of the by-product lime and the marine clay and landfill or management plan of the storages.