Clay-isolation Of Chemical Waste In Mines
Author(s)
R. Pusch
Abstract
Surrounding and mixing of solid waste by low-permeable expansive clay very
effectively retards dissolution and migration of toxic elements due to very slow
wetting and diffusive ion transport, and very low permeability of the clay. Drifts
and rooms of abandoned mines that are filled with hazardous waste surrounded
and mixed with smectite clay will not give off toxic elements in many tens or
hundreds of thousands of years to the groundwater and by selecting suitable clay
types and application techniques it is possible to isolate such waste at a
reasonable cost.
1 Clay as isolating medium
1.1 General
Clays have a low permeability and sorb cationic elements and some of them are
also expansive and can fill up the space in which they are placed, like drifts and
rooms in an abandoned mine. They are therefore ideal for embedding or
surrounding solid waste. The smectite family, particularly montmorillonite, has
the lowest hydraulic conductivity and the highest expandability of all clay types
and should be considered for such purposes. The most suitable form of the clay
for isolation of solid waste is dried and ground powder obtained by drying,
crushing and sieving natural clay of required quality. Bentonite, being smectitic
clay formed from volcanish ash in nature, is commercially available in any
desired form from many mineral companies. The dry material can be compacted
to form blocks in which solid waste objects can be embedded, or applied layer-wise
by sandwiching clay and waste layers that are compacted on site by
ordinary constructors’ techniques. Using drifts and rooms in deeply located
abandoned mines the clay takes up water from the rock and eventually gets fully
water saturated. The time for reaching this stage can be many decades or
Keywords
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