Processes and impacts of acid discharges on a natural substratum under a landfill

Abstract

Analyses of substratum samples under a landfill were performed to assess the pollution impact of waste over a clay–sand material after nine years of exposure. These samples presented different illite/kaolinite ratios and an acid pH, especially low near the waste/soil contact in a 1–1.5m soil thickness with low density and despite the basic pH of the collected actual methanogenic leachate. This study has raised the effects of a presumably acid stage in the waste leachate on the substratum final quality of clay and its physical–chemical properties as an attenuation buffer. These effects were the dissolution of carbonate minerals, decrease of dry density, increase of hydraulic conductivity, release of metals and formation of clays with low cationic exchange capacity (CEC) as kaolinite. The large presence of H+ and Al(OH)3−xx+ depleted the neutralizing capacity of the substratum and occupied exchangeable sites, decreasing therefore the available sites for retaining leachate pollutants, which traveled further than the first-meter depth of the substratum. In order to combat and prevent pollution as well as to preserve the good barrier properties under new landfills it is proposed to select illitic materials better than kaolinitic substratum, to avoid acid landfilling and if not possible to add lime.