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Gas permeability of biochar-amended clay: potential alternative landfill final cover material

  • Biological waste as resource, with a focus on food waste
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Abstract

Compacted biochar-amended clay (BAC) has been proposed as an alternative landfill final cover material in this study. Biochar has long been proposed to promote crop growth, mitigate odor emission, and promote methane oxidation in field soils. However, previous studies showed that soil-gas permeability was increased upon biochar application, which will promote landfill gas emission. The objective of the present study is to investigate the possibility of using compacted BAC as an alternative material in landfill final cover by evaluating its gas permeability. BAC samples were prepared by mixing 425-μm-sieved peanut shell biochar with kaolin clay in different ratios (0, 5, 10, and 15 %, w/w) and compacting at different degrees of compactions (DOC) (80, 85, and 90 %) with an optimum water content of 35 %. The gas permeability of the BACs was measured by flexible wall gas permeameter and the microstructure of the BACs was analyzed by SEM with energy-dispersive x-ray spectroscopy (EDX). The results show that the effects of biochar content on BAC gas permeability is highly dependent on the DOC. At high DOC (90 %), the gas permeability of BAC decreases with increasing biochar content due to the combined effect of the clay aggregation and the inhibition of biochar in the gas flow. However, at low DOC (80 %), biochar incorporation has no effects on gas permeability because it no longer acts as a filling material to the retard gas flow. The results from the present study imply that compacted BAC can be used as an alternative final cover material with decreased gas permeability when compared with clay.

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Acknowledgments

This study was funded by the research grant 2012CB719805 of 2012CB719800 provided by the Ministry of Science and Technology of the People’s Republic of China through the National Basic Research Program (973 project) and Collaborative Research Fund (CRF) provided by the Research Grants Council of the Hong Kong SAR (HKUST6/CRF/12R). The authors would like to thank Mr. Yeung Yin Hon and Ms. Charlotte Ma for their technical assistance.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Room 3556, Clear Water Bay, Kowloon, Hong Kong SAR, China

    James Tsz Fung Wong, Zhongkui Chen, Charles Wang Wai Ng & Ming Hung Wong

  2. Consortium on Health, Environment, Education and Research (CHEER), The Hong Kong Institute of Education, Tai Po, Hong Kong SAR, China

    Ming Hung Wong

  3. Department of Science and Environmental Studies, The Hong Kong Institute of Education, Office B3-2/F-33, Tai Po, Hong Kong SAR, China

    Ming Hung Wong

Authors
  1. James Tsz Fung Wong
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  2. Zhongkui Chen
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  3. Charles Wang Wai Ng
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  4. Ming Hung Wong
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Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Charles Wang Wai Ng or Ming Hung Wong.

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Responsible editor: Zhihong Xu

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Wong, J.T.F., Chen, Z., Ng, C.W.W. et al. Gas permeability of biochar-amended clay: potential alternative landfill final cover material. Environ Sci Pollut Res 23, 7126–7131 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-015-4871-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-015-4871-2

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