UNIVERSITY OF TRANSPORT AND COMMUNICATIONS

FACULTY OF INTERNATIONAL EDUCATION

SCIENTIFIC STUDENT RESEARCH 2017

RESEARCH ON FLY ASH-BENTONITE MIXTURE

FOR LANDFILL LINER IN VIETNAM

 Supervisor: Dr. Nguyen Chau Lan

 Students: Chu Long Hai
Nguyen Viet Duc
Nguyen Phuc Anh
Nguyen Duc Toan
Nguyen Huu Nam
 Class: Advanced Training Programme- K55
MAIN CONTENTS

1. Overview

2. Materials-Testing methods

3. Results

4. Conclusions & Recommendations

 Real situation of waste burial in Viet Nam

 Over 15 million tons of waste each year

 160000 tons/year is considered hazardous
 85-90% of operating dumps had failed to meet sanitation standards
 Landfilling is the cheapest and most prevalent solution for soil
waste management in Vietnam.

Xuan Son Waste’s Landfill

Modern Waste Landfill
Materials for landfill liner

Geo-synthetic clay liner (GCL)

1. Having permanence
waterproof performance
2. Simple and short construction
3. Being independent from
climate and environment
friendly
1. Be punctured during/after
installation
2. Having a problem with shear
strength
3. Loss of bentonite during
placement
Materials for landfill liner

High density polyethylene (HDPE)

1. Using widely in the world

2. Using more commonly
internationally
3. An inexpensive material
1. Be difficult to install due to its
lack of flexibility and technical
nature in-site.
2. Having some problems: stress
cracking, high degree of thermal
expansion, poor puncture
resistance and multi-axial strain.
Structure of modern landfill
 Materials using in research

Soil Sample Bentonite Fly Ash

 BENTONITE

- Bentonite is an absorbent aluminum phyllosilicate clay

consisting mostly of montmorillonite. Bentonite usually forms
from weathering of volcanic ash, most often in the presence
of water.
- Properties:
• Be environmental friendly
• Small permeability coefficient (hydraulic conductivity)
• Plasticity
• Be inexpensive
• Durability
• Large swelling
• The ability to exchange large positive ions
BENTONITE
 Fly Ash

- Fly ash is micron-sized, glassy powder residue as a result of

coal combustion in power plants.
- It is pozzolanic in nature and consists primarily of silica,
alumina and iron. The chemical content of the coal burned
(anthracite, bituminous and lignite) influences the chemical
properties of fly ash.
- Properties:
• Be environmental friendly
• Safety (low levels of heavy metals, toxic elements)
• Be inexpensive
• Small swelling
• Making soils dense
• Adding greater strength to soil
• Reducing hydraulic conductivity
Fly Ash
 Testing methods

Comparing the difference of the physical-

mechanical properties of soil before and
after mixed with bentonite/fly ash.
 Physical-Mechanical Tests

1. Water content 2. Unit weight

wtb = 40.40%  = 1.82 g/cm3
 Physical-Mechanical Tests

Sieve analysis Hydrometer analysis

3. Grain size analysis

Physical-Mechanical Tests

Distribution Curve
 Physical-Mechanical Tests

4. Liquid Limit 5. Plastic Limit

LL (%)= 49.92 % PL (%)= 22.60 %

Clay-soil
Standard Compaction test
 Standard Compaction test

Optimal Moisture content Maximum Dry density

w = 19.04%  = 1.73 g/ cm3
Hydraulic Conductivity test
Hydraulic conductivity result for soil sample
Hydraulic conductivity result for soil-bentonite
Hydraulic conductivity result for soil-fly ash
Hydraulic conductivity result for bentonite-fly ash-soil
 Discussion

Standard Hydraulic Conductivity (k) Thickness (t)

Viet Nam < 109 m/s 60cm

Europe < 109m/s 1m

 Discussion

Standard Hydraulic Conductivity (k) Thickness (t)

Viet Nam < 109 m/s 60cm

Europe < 109m/s 1m

Discussion
Discussion
 Conclusion

1. The hydraulic conductivity of clay soil-bentonite mixture decreases

rapidly with the increase of bentonite content.
2. The hydraulic conductivity of clay soil-fly ash mixture decreases regularly
with the increase of fly ash content.
3. The hydraulic conductivity of clay soil-bentonite and fly ash mixture
decrease sharply with the increase of bentonite-fly ash mixture (with
20% bentonite in this mixtures).
4. The liquid limit and plastic limit increases with the increase of bentonite
content.
5. Verifying Sanjeev Kumar & Woi-Leong Yong ‘s formula for increasing
percentage of liquid limit, plastic limit and plasticity index due to
increasing of bentonite for real environment in Viet Nam.
• ΔPL = 0.82B
• ΔPI = 3.2B
• ΔLL = 2.2B
 Recommendation

• Assess effects of bentonite proportion on swelling,

1 compaction, shrinkage and crack.

• Checking the effective level of mixtures from this

research with leachate/or water mixed with chemical
2 compounds.

• Conducting experiment with other types of soil such

3 as sandy clay, sand, silty clay, etc.

• Scanning electron microscope (SEM), X-ray

diffraction (XRD) should be conducted on soil
4 sample before and after mixing to observe the
molecular structure of the soil mixture.
 Recommendation
Application on other fields

For nuclear waste For the landfill near the

coastal area
THANK FOR YOUR LISTENING!