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Study On Leachate And Its Effects On Soil Properties
To cite this article: Damaraju Lakshmi Lavanya 2021 IOP Conf. Ser.: Mater. Sci. Eng. 1026 012006
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Innovative Solutions and Challenges in Civil Engineering (ISCCE 2020) IOP Publishing
IOP Conf. Series: Materials Science and Engineering 1026 (2021) 012006 doi:10.1088/1757-899X/1026/1/012006
Study On Leachate And Its Effects On Soil
Properties
Damaraju Lakshmi Lavanya1
[email protected] [email protected] Assistant Professor , Department of civil engineering
Vignana Bharathi Institute Of Technology
Abstract:
The resources of earth are supporting the man kind , but various actions of man
increases the generation of waste causing a huge solid waste , presently which is a
third pollution in world –wide . The gradual decomposition of solid waste , includes
various bye-products and soluble materials like nutrients , pesticides ,chemicals are
leaching into the soil and causing a soil pollution as well as ground water pollution
.The leaching liquid known as Leachate, percolates into the layers of soil and effects
the Various Geo-technical properties. The study confines to identify the effects of the
leachate on soil properties and also to study the variations in treating the leachate by
Recirculation method to decrease the concentrations levels . By collecting the waste,
an artificial dump yard is created and water is added to the waste for formation of
leachate. A setup is made, the leachate is treated by one of the Leachate treatment
methods the method of recirculation. Leachate is collected and parameters pH, BOD,
COD, Alkalinity ,Sulphates, Nitrates, Conductivity, Total hardness, Total Dissolved
Solids, Total Suspended Solids, Chlorides of leachate are tested in before and after
the recirculation process. The soil property at the site was observed before and after
leachate formation. Also the recirculated leachate is sprinkled in the site, soil
properties was tested. For soil engineering properties, geo-synthetics like geo-
membranes can be used at the dumping site to reduce the effect of leachate on soil
properties.
Keywords : Solid Waste, Leachate , Recirculation ,Soil Properties ,Geo-membranes
1. Introduction :
The generation of solid waste shows a considerable variations in urban and small towns . An average
of 450 grams of waste will be generated per person per day . In urban places , with all modern
facilities an average percapita of 650 grams will be generated . Some types of waste are consisting
of materials which can decompose with the available moisture and rainfall like food waste, paper ,
chemicals etc . .Utilization of open lands or Dumping of Municipal solid waste is a major concern.
Expanding city lines increases for the outlook of land availability Rapid development of the city
outskirts and scarcity of land in the city creating the issue of dump yard stations and also
reclaiming the dumpsite for future development like constructing the buildings. Open dump yards and
Landfills are the conventional methods for solid waste disposal where large area of open –spaces are
available. Landfilling method is causing environmental problems such as odorous smell, infectious
vectors, leachate pollution etc .Leachate is a liquid, arises from the municipal solid waste
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Published under licence by IOP Publishing Ltd 1
Innovative Solutions and Challenges in Civil Engineering (ISCCE 2020) IOP Publishing
IOP Conf. Series: Materials Science and Engineering 1026 (2021) 012006 doi:10.1088/1757-899X/1026/1/012006
decomposition process and percolates into ground water and causes Ground water pollution. Leachate
percolation ,the impurities present in the Leachate Liquid causing a potential threat by affecting the
quality of ground water and also causes soil pollution , some effects in the properties of soil .
This changes effects the constructing activities, like load carrying capacity of the soil, causing
increasing the cost of Construction with by applying different remedies .
The present study observes the variations in leachate characterization and treated the Leachate by
recycling or recirculation method
2. Methodology :
The study was conducted by Collecting the waste from municipal waste dump and prepared a artificial
dump yard, to study the Leachate and soil properties before and after the generation of Leachate .
The available soil at the site is murram soil , two artificial dumping yards was created .Each pit is of
1.5 X1.5 m. The pit is dug at a depth of 15 cm. One pit is left simply and on the other geomembrane is
laid. In each pit around 50 kg of waste is placed .Based on rainfall data in the study location, water is
poured. Daily 3 liters of water is poured into the two dumping yards. The 3 litres of water was decided
based on the rainfall data at the selected site. This process is continued for 14 days. Before, the soil
properties of the fresh soil are tested and values are noted. After 14 days, the leachate will be formed
and soil properties are tested for both the pits by removing the waste from it. The values obtained from
tests are noted.Also the soil properties was tested collecting the soil sample where the Leachate
percolation is done in the soil sample
Figure 1: Artificial dump yard set up
2.1 Artificial leachate formation
Artificial leachate is prepared by an experimental setup. This setup consists of
Pipe - length(2m),diameter(16cm)
Dummy
Stand
Collecting tubs
Coarse aggregates
A layer of coarse aggregate was laid at the top and bottom of solid waste to retain suspended
solids to pass through. The pipe is held in vertical position with the help of stand. Water is
added to waste of 1 litre per day for 14 days to generate the leachate . The leachate produced
after adding of water for 14 days is 9 litres. 2 litres of leachate is taken separately for testing
the parameters of leachate. Remaining 7 litres is taken for recirculation. In re-circulation
2
Innovative Solutions and Challenges in Civil Engineering (ISCCE 2020) IOP Publishing
IOP Conf. Series: Materials Science and Engineering 1026 (2021) 012006 doi:10.1088/1757-899X/1026/1/012006
process fresh leachate is added into the pipe columnof 1 litre per day for a week .Here, the
fresh leachate reacts with the waste present in the pipe The leachate produced after
recirculation process is of 4.5 litres. 1 litre is taken for tests and remaining is poured on to the
fresh soil at the study area. Then the soil properties are tested after pouring of recirculated
leachate on to the study area. All values are noted and calculated.
Figure 2: Artificial Leachate Formation
Figure 3: Recirculated Leachate Figure 4: Fresh Leachate
2.2 GEOMEMBRANE
A geomembrane is very low permeability synthetic membrane liner used to arrest the movement of the
fluid in a material . Geomembrane are made from relatively thin continuous polymeric sheet. It acts
as a barrier between the any two layers .The Lifetime of the Geo-Membranes in landfill can be
approximately used for about 25 years . The different Geo-membranes is having different life times in
usage
3
Innovative Solutions and Challenges in Civil Engineering (ISCCE 2020) IOP Publishing
IOP Conf. Series: Materials Science and Engineering 1026 (2021) 012006 doi:10.1088/1757-899X/1026/1/012006
Figure 5: Geo-membrane used in the study
Specifications:
Gsm-150 (gram per square metre)
Smooth surface
Thickness – 2.5mm
Impermeable
Longevous(30 years)
Characteristics:
Low biological degradation
High resistance to chemicals
High impact resistance
High tear resistance
High Interface Shear strength
2.3 Tests Performed on soil and Leachate
The following are the tests Performed on the soil
California Bearing Ratio test
Direct shear test
Permeability test
California Bearing Ratio Test:
To evaluate the strength of below sub - layers of the soil, this test is conducted .The CBR is a
measure of resistance of a material with respect to the load.
Direct Shear Test:
To identify the shear strength of the soil properties and is function of Normal load, angle of
friction which determines the interlocking between the soil particles
Permeability Test:
Constant Head Method:
The test was done to determine the permeability Nature of the soil , to calculate the
Discharge in a given time .
Presently this test was conducted to Known the rate of movement of Leachate into the soil .
The Various tests conducted on to study the Characteristics of Leachate
pH
BOD
COD
Alkalinity
Sulphates
Nitrates
4
Innovative Solutions and Challenges in Civil Engineering (ISCCE 2020) IOP Publishing
IOP Conf. Series: Materials Science and Engineering 1026 (2021) 012006 doi:10.1088/1757-899X/1026/1/012006
Conductivity
Total hardness
Total Dissolved Solids
Total Suspended Solids
Chlorides
3. Results And Observations
The soil samples was collected and tested before the formation of dump yard, after the formation of
leachate and with recirculated leachate. The different tests were conducted on freshly formed leachate
and recirculated leachate. The rate of generation of Leachate in recirculation was observed as
decreased by 15 ml
Table 1: soil sample Tests results
Soil sample after Soil sample after Soil sample with
formation of leachate formation of recirculated
Tests Fresh soil without geomembrane leachate with leachate
geomembrane
cohesion=30 cohesion=75 cohesion=50 cohesion=45
Direct shear test
Angle of internal Angle of internal Angle of internal Angle of internal
friction=10.420 friction=2.10 friction=8.750 friction=3.90
Permeability 0.089mm/sec 0.08mm/sec 0.085mm/sec 0.083mm/sec
CBR test 20.56% 10.6% 16.78% 12.09%
Table 2: The following are the Tests conducted on Leachate
Tests Performed Fresh leachate Recirculated leachate
pH 6.5 7.48
Conductivity 6.59 7.49
TDS 10208 mg/l 8964 mg/l
TSS 56 mg/l 45 mg/l
Chlorides 282 mg/l 220 mg/l
Alkalinity 3926 mg/l 2897 mg/l
BOD 1023 mg/l 912 mg/l
COD 3223 mg/l 2987 mg/l
Sulphates 120 mg/l 90 mg/l
Nitrates 35.2 mg/l 29.6 mg/l
4. Conclusions:
1) The recirculated leachate parameters such as Alkalinity, Nitrates, Chlorides etc, are
decreased as compared with fresh leachate.
2) By leachate recirculation process the effects of landfill leachate can be decreased.
5
Innovative Solutions and Challenges in Civil Engineering (ISCCE 2020) IOP Publishing
IOP Conf. Series: Materials Science and Engineering 1026 (2021) 012006 doi:10.1088/1757-899X/1026/1/012006
3) As compared with fresh soil properties and dumping yard, the parameters like shearing
strength, permeability is decreased by different percentages with leachate percolation
process.
4) Usage of geo-membrane at the dumping yard site does not show any decrease in the soil
characteristics and it will be as same as with fresh land.
5. References
1) ASTM D4439 Standard Terminology for Geosynthetics. ASTM International.
2) Lee, A. H., Hamid, N. and Hung Y. T. (2010), Influence of Waste Age on Landfill Leachate
Quality. International Journal of Environmental Science and Development, 1(4).
3) Soong, T.-Y., Lord, A.E., and Koerner, R.M., (1994), “Stress Relaxation Behavior of
HDPE Geomembranes”, Proceedings of the Fifth International Conference on Geotextiles,
Geomembranes and Related Products, Southeast Asia Chapter of the International Geotextile
Society, Singapore, pp 1121-1124.
4) Soong, T.-Y, and Koerner, R.M., (1997), “Behaviour of Waves in High Density
Polyethylene Geomembranes: A Laboratory Study”, Proceedings of the 11th GRI Conference,
GRI, Folsom, PA, USA, pp 128-151.
Websites:
1) Atlas of Groundwater in Virginia: http://capp. water.usgs.gov/gwa/ch_l/index.html
2) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geomembrane
3) http://www.springer.com/engineering/civil+engineering/journal/40891
4) http://ascelibrary.org/journal/jggefk
