Calcium-Resistant Membrane Behavior of Polymerized Bentonite
Publication: Journal of Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Engineering
Volume 140, Issue 3
Abstract
Traditional (unmodified) sodium bentonite (Na-bentonite) has been shown to exhibit semipermeable membrane behavior, which is beneficial in terms of the use of Na-bentonites as barriers or components of barriers for hydraulic containment applications. However, degradation of such membrane behavior due to the diffusion of cations into the bentonite also is known to occur, and this degradation increases with increasing salt concentration and increasing valence (charge) of the principle salt cation (e.g., versus ). In this study, the membrane behavior of a polymerized bentonite referred to as a bentonite-polymer nanocomposite (BPN) was determined during multistage membrane tests using solutions of . The BPN illustrated improved membrane behavior relative to that previously reported for both traditional and other chemically modified bentonites. However, complete degradation of the membrane behavior was ultimately observed for specimens of the BPN exposed to for a test conducted in a rigid-wall cell and for a test conducted in a flexible-wall cell. The destruction of membrane behavior for the specimen in the rigid-wall cell was attributed to short-circuiting along the side walls of the rigid-wall cell after shrinkage of the BPN, whereas destruction of the membrane behavior in the flexible-wall cell correlated with the time required to reach steady-state diffusion of calcium (). Thus, the enhanced calcium-resistant behavior of the BPN was limited and was affected by the type of cell (rigid-wall versus flexible-wall) in which the membrane behavior was measured.
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Acknowledgments
Financial support for this project, which was a collaboration among Colorado State University (CSU), the University of Wisconsin–Madison (UW-Madison), and Colloid Environmental Technologies (CETCO), was provided by the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF), Arlington, Virginia, under Grant No. CMMI-0757815. The opinions expressed in this paper are solely those of the authors and are not necessarily consistent with the policies or opinions of the NSF. The authors thank CETCO for providing the bentonites used in this study; all the collaborators including Craig Benson, Tuncer Edil, and Joe Scalia at UW-Madison and Mike Donovan and Jerry Darlington of CETCO; Catherine Hong of CSU for assistance with the membrane tests; and Thomas Borch of CSU for the use of the ion chromatograph for anion concentration analyses.
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Journal of Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Engineering
Volume 140 • Issue 3 • March 2014
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© 2013 American Society of Civil Engineers.
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Received: Dec 4, 2012
Accepted: Sep 12, 2013
Published online: Nov 27, 2013
Published in print: Mar 1, 2014
Discussion open until: Apr 27, 2014
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