Geotechnical Assessment of Clay Deposits in Minna, North-Central Nigeria for Use as liners in Sanitary Landfill Design and Construction

Amadi A. N.^1, , Okunlola I. A.², Eze C. J.³, Jimoh M. O.¹, Unuevho C. I.¹ and Abubakar Fahad¹

¹Department of Geology, Federal University of Technology, Minna, Nigeria

²Department of Chemical and Geological Sciences, Al-Hikmah University, Ilorin, Nigeria

³Department of Architecture, Federal University of Technology, Minna, Nigeria

Cite this paper:
Amadi A. N., Okunlola I. A., Eze C. J., Jimoh M. O., Unuevho C. I. and Abubakar Fahad. Geotechnical Assessment of Clay Deposits in Minna, North-Central Nigeria for Use as liners in Sanitary Landfill Design and Construction. American Journal of Environmental Protection. 2015; 3(3):67-75. doi: 10.12691/env-3-3-2

Abstract

Sanitary landfills are waste disposal method that functions without creating nuisance to the environment. It confines waste to the available area, reduce waste to the minimum practical volume. The waste in a landfill reacts to release a cocktail of contaminants called leachate, which posses treat to the surrounding environment (soil and groundwater). Therefore, barrier soils are required for the lining of a landfill to prevent seepage of leachate into the surrounding groundwater and subsequent contamination of the groundwater system. Some clay in Minna was assessed using geotechnical techniques to determine its suitability as barrier soils. Five samples of clay were subjected to grain size analysis, atterberg limits, compaction tests and mineralogy test. From the grain size analysis and the atterberg limit, the soil is classified as a clayey material. The liquid limit ranged from 45.5%-61% with a mean value of 51.8% which is an indication of high plasticity and low hydraulic conductivity, the plastic limit ranged from 29.2%-35.8% with a mean value of 32.44% and its plasticity index ranged from 13.7%-25.2% with a mean value of 19.37% which implies that the clay can withstand volumetric shrinkage on drying and exhibit a low to medium swelling potential when wet. The compaction test reveal an optimum moisture content(OMC) ranging from 17.7% to 24% with a mean value of 19.94% and a maximum dry density (MDD) that varied from 1.59g/cm³ to 1.76g/cm³ with a mean value of 1.7g/cm³. This results of these geotechnical analysis suggests that the clay in the area meets the requirement for a barrier soil. The X-ray diffraction analysis reveals the presence of kaolinite dominated clay and mixed clay (kaolinite-illite). These minerals have the capability to attenuate and contain leachates from wastes. Hence, the studied clays are good barrier soils.

Keywords:
clay geotechnical assessment landfill design barrier soils containment contamination minna north-central Nigeria

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Figures

References:

[1]	Allen, A. R. (2000). Attenuation landfills the future in landfilling. Retrieved Dec. 8 2008 from http://wbiis.tu.koszalin.pl/towarzystwo/2000/17allen_t.pdf.
[2]	Amadi, A. N., (2011). Assessing the Effects of Aladimma Dumpsite on Soil and Groundwater. Using Water Quality Index and Factor Analysis. Australian Journal of Basic and Applied Sciences, 5(11), 763-770.
[3]	Amadi, A. N., Nwankwoala, H. O., Eze, C. J., Alkali, Y. B. and Waziri, S. H., (2012). A review of waste management techniques in parts of Niger Delta, Nigeria. Centre for Human Settlement and Urban Development Journal, 3(1), 98-108.
[4]	Amadi, A. N. and Nwankwoala, H. O., (2013). Evaluation of Heavy Metal in Soils from Enyimba Dumpsite in Aba, Southeastern Nigeria Using Contamination Factor and Geo-Accumulation Index. Energy and Environment Research, 3(1), 125-134.
[5]	Amadi A. N., Dan-Hassan M. A., Okoye N. O., Ejiofor I. C. and Aminu Tukur, (2013). Studies on Pollution Hazards of Shallow Hand-Dug Wells in Erena and Environs, North-Central Nigeria. Environment and Natural Resources Research, 3(2), 69-77.
[6]	Batchelder, M., Mather, J. D. and Joseph, J. B. (1998). Mineralogical and chemical changes in mineral liners in contact with landfill leachate. Waste Management and Research, 16, pp 411-420.
[7]	Benson, C. H., Zhai, H. and Wang, X. (1994). Estimating hydraulic conductivity of clay liners. Journal of Geotechnical Engineering ASCE, 120.2, 366-387.
[8]	British Standard Code of Practice for Site Investigation 1981. Published by the British Standards Institution, pp 1-00.
[9]	British Standard Methods of Test for soil for Civil Engineering Purposes. BS 1377: Part 1-9, 1990. Published by the British Standards Institution, pp 8-200.
[10]	Casagrande, A. (1948). Classification and Identification of Soils. Transaction, ASCE, vol. 113, 901-930.
[11]	Clayton, C. R., Mattew, M. C. and Simons, N.E., (1995). Site investigation. Published by Blackwell Science LTD, Great Britain, 59 pp.
[12]	Daniel, D. E., (1993). Clay liners. In: Geotechnical practice for waste disposal, (ed. David E. Daniel) Chapman & Hall, London, UK, pp. 137-163.
[13]	Declan, O and Paul, Q., (2003). Geotechnical engineering & environmental aspects of clay liners for landfill projects. Retrieved from http://www.igsl.ie/Technical/Paper3.doc.
[14]	Jones, R.M., Murray, E.J., Rix, D.W. and Humphrey, R.D., (1995). Selection of clays for use as landfill liners. In: Waste disposal by landfill- GREEN'93, Sarsby (Ed.), Balkema, Rotterdam. pp. 433-438.
[15]	Kabir, M. H. and Taha, M. R., (2004). Assessment of Physical Properties of a Granite Residual Soil as an Isolation Barrier, Electronic Journal of Geotechnical Engineering Vol. 92c, 13pp.
[16]	Nwankwo, C. K., (1994). Solid waste management, general reviews and a glance at the Nigerian Situation. Journal of Mining Geology, 27, pp20-25.
[17]	Nwankwoala, H.O., Amadi, A.N., Ushie, F.A. and Warmate, T., (2014). Determination of Subsurface Geotechnical Properties for Foundation Design and Construction in Akenfa Community, Bayelsa State, Nigeria. American Journal of Civil Engineering and Architecture, 2(4), 130-135.
[18]	Onorm, S., (1990), Geotechnik in Deponiebau-Erdarbeiten. Osterrichisches Normungsinstitut, Wien (Geotechnics in Landfill Construction-Earthworks, Austrian Standards Institute, Vienna).
[19]	Oyediran, I.A. and Iroegbuchu, C.D., (2013). Geotechnical characteristics of some southwestern Nigerian clays as barrier soils. Journal of science, 15, 17-19.
[20]	Rowe, R. K., Quigley, R. M. and Booker, J.R., (1995). Clayey barrier systems for waste disposal facilities, E & FN Spon, London.
[21]	Truswell, J.E and Cope, R. N., (1963). The geology of parts of Niger and Zaria province, Northern Nigeria. Bulletin No. 29. Published by the Geological Survey of Nigeria. 29p.
[22]	United States Environmental Protection Agency (2006). A citizen's guide to phytoremediation. Office of solid waste and emergency response, Technology Innovations office. Technology Fact Sheet (5102G) EPA 542-F-98-011.
[23]	Withlow, R., (1998). Basic Soil Mechanics. 3rd Edition. Longman Group Ltd. 557p.