Nondestructive test to track pollutant transport into landfill liners

Abstract

Over the last decade, waste disposal has become a particularly sensitive issue in Algeria. New legislation concerning landfill liner design has been adopted. Traditional methods of landfill liner characterization involve soil sampling and chemical analysis, which are costly, destructive and time-consuming. New techniques are currently being investigated that aim to provide nondestructive liner characterisation. This paper details technical aspects associated with electrical conductivity measurements within landfill liners and presents experimental work to show the direct application of electrical techniques to track ionic movement through a sand bentonite liner under chemically induced flow. Samples of sand bentonite were mixed and compacted with NaCl electrolytes at different concentrations. The electrical conductivities of compacted specimens were measured with a two-electrode cell. The effects of frequency and electrolyte concentration on the conductivity measurement were explored. The relationship between the soil electrical conductivity and the NaCl electrolyte concentration in interstitial pore fluid was determined. The conductivity measurements were used to quantify the pore fluid concentration and effective diffusion coefficient of sand bentonite liners. It is concluded here that the electrical conductivity of compacted specimens depends mainly on the salt concentration in the pore fluid, and that this approach could therefore be used to track ionic movement through liners during diffusion.