Consolidation Behavior of Compacted Bentonites in the Presence of Heavy Metals
Publication: Journal of Hazardous, Toxic, and Radioactive Waste
Volume 21, Issue 3
Abstract
Compacted bentonites are frequently used as a clay liner material at landfill because of their high specific surface area (SSA), high cation exchange capacity (CEC), contaminant adsorption capacity, and low hydraulic conductivity. The heavy-metal contaminants present in the leachates of the wastes affects the pore-fluid chemistry and diffuse double layer (DDL) thickness of the clay particles. The heavy-metal contaminants suppress the DDL thickness of bentonite, resulting in a decrease in its swelling capacity. Consolidation is one of the important behaviors of bentonite, which is required to be investigated for settlement calculation of landfill liner. This investigation was performed to study the effect of different heavy-metal contaminants of varying concentration on the consolidation characteristics of bentonite. Two bentonites with different liquid limit and swelling capacity were studied for change in their various consolidation parameters such as coefficient of volume change (), coefficient of consolidation (), compression index (), and time requires for the completion of 90% of consolidation () in the presence of zinc, lead, and copper contaminants at a concentration of 100 and . The results showed that the , , and of the bentonites decreased, whereas increased with the increase in heavy-metal contaminants concentration. Higher-quality bentonite, defined by a higher swelling capacity, exhibited a higher , , and than those of the lower-swelling bentonite. The results showed that the of the samples decreases and the increases with an increase in consolidation pressure. Because bentonite is widely used as a liner material in landfills, the results of this study may provide a general guideline for estimating the liner performance in the presence of different kinds of contaminants and thus help in choosing the bentonite type for the liner application.
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Published In
Journal of Hazardous, Toxic, and Radioactive Waste
Volume 21 • Issue 3 • July 2017
Copyright
©2017 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Jul 29, 2016
Accepted: Nov 17, 2016
Published online: Feb 10, 2017
Published in print: Jul 1, 2017
Discussion open until: Jul 10, 2017
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