Effects of Selected Inorganic Leachates on Clay Permeability

Abstract

The widespread use of clays as liner materials for hazardous waste disposal facilities has sparked an interest in the effects that inorganic chemicals have on the hydraulic conductivity of clays. Three natural clays are permeated with nickel nitrate and ferric chloride, and their hydraulic conductivities are determined to be in the range of 10û8 cm/s which does not differ from their hydraulic conductivities to water as measured in both fixed- and flexible-wall permeameters. Results of the hydraulic conductivity tests indicated that at the concentrations tested, nickel nitrate (50 mg/L and 300 g/L) and ferric chloride (500 mg/L) do not significantly affect the hydraulic conductivities of the three field clays tested, even upon the passage of as many as 50 pore volumes of permeant into the sample.