Behavior of kaolinite and illite-based clays as landfill barriers

The technical requirements for the landfill of municipal wastes in the European Union (EU) are given in the Council Directive 1999/31/EC. A geological barrier of at least 1 m thickness with a hydraulic conductivity (HC) of 1 · 10^− 9 m/s is required. Where the geological barrier does not naturally meet the above conditions, a geological barrier of at least 0.5 m thick must be artificially established. We studied at controlled conditions, the ability of some clays (kaolinite or illite based) to act as landfill barriers. Several Spanish ceramic clays were compacted in columns (0.5 m length) and characterized for mineralogical, physical–chemical and heavy metal ions adsorption properties after 10 months leaching experiments. Zn, Cd, Pb and Cr salts were dosed in the synthetic leachates in order to test their in-depth retention. The specific surface area decreased in the material located near the clay–leachate interface region (< 6 cm) due to biofilm formation around clay particles, but bulk mineralogical properties were not affected. Although all the clays fulfilled the HC requirements, the diffusion of anions (chloride) reached more than 30 cm in kaolinite–illite or pure illite clays. The presence of significant traces of smectite (< 5%) was critical in anion transport retardation. Heavy metal ions were generally retained in the first 10 cm but in high surface-area illitic clays, the anions and heavy metal ions transport was stopped at < 6 cm. The clay mineralogy and the presence of carbonates and soluble salts greatly influenced the behavior of the barrier materials. Carbonate dissolution and precipitation affected < 6 cm depth. Divalent cations of carbonates selectively occupied the exchangeable positions and inhibited the retention of Na⁺, NH₄⁺ and K⁺, in the leachates. Sulphate was reduced at a depth of 20–30 cm. This biogeochemical process contributed to cadmium retention, presumably precipitated as sulphide.