Hydraulic conductivity study of compacted clay soils used as landfill liners for an acidic waste

Abstract

Three natural clayey soils from Tunisia were studied to assess their suitability for use as a liner for an acid waste disposal site. An investigation of the effect of the mineral composition and mechanical compaction on the hydraulic conductivity and fluoride and phosphate removal of three different soils is presented. The hydraulic conductivity of these three natural soils are 8.5×10−10, 2.08×10−9 and 6.8×10−10m/s for soil-1, soil-2 and soil-3, respectively. Soil specimens were compacted under various compaction strains in order to obtain three wet densities (1850, 1950 and 2050kg/m3). In this condition, the hydraulic conductivity (k) was reduced with increasing density of sample for all soils. The test results of hydraulic conductivity at long-term (>200days) using acidic waste solution (pH=2.7, charged with fluoride and phosphate ions) shows a decrease in k with time only for natural soil-1 and soil-2. However, the specimens of soil-2 compressed to the two highest densities (1950 and 2050kg/m3) are cracked after 60 and 20days, respectively, of hydraulic conductivity testing. This damage is the result of a continued increase in the internal stress due to the swelling and to the effect of aggressive wastewater. The analysis of anions shows that the retention of fluoride is higher compared to phosphate and soil-1 has the highest sorption capacity.