A polymer enhanced clay for impermeable geosynthetic clay liners

Chemical attack can destroy the hydraulic performance and the self-sealing capacity of Geosynthetic Clay Liners (GCLs), used as hydraulic barriers for waste disposals. For this reason, chemically-resistant clays are studied here. In this research, a bentonite clay has been modified with different concentrations of an anionic polymer, Sodium-CarboxyMethylCellulose (Na-CMC). The addition of Na-CMC to the clay analyzed improved its swelling ability in presence of deionised water, sea water, KCl and CaCl2 solutions, suggesting that the addition of this polymer enhances its swelling capacity. The addition of Na-CMC improved also the hydraulic performance of the bentonite in presence of sea water and CaCl2