Environmental Sciences

Waste to resource: Applicability of fly ash as landfill geoliner to control ground water pollution

fly ash as landfill geoliner
Image Source: geomembrane.com

Fly ash can adsorb inorganic pollutants, hence making it a suitable candidate for application as landfill geoliner, say the authors.

Authors

Abhiroop Chowdhury, Associate Professor, Jindal School of Environment & Sustainability, O.P. Jindal Global University, Sonipat, Haryana, India.

Aliya Naz, Department of Environmental Science & Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology (Indian School of Mines), Dhanbad, Jharkhand, India

Aditya Chowdhury, Department of Applied Geophysics, Indian Institute of Technology (Indian School of Mines), Dhanbad, Jharkhand, India.

Summary

The major issue faced by the modern world is its waste management strategies. Coal fired thermal power plant produces fine particular respirable fly ash that cause severe health implications. Landfills are favored by urban planners to manage solid waste generated by the rapidly urbanizing world. This results in leachate production which contaminates ground water. Heavy metal pollutants (As, Cd, Cr, Cu, Fe, Hg, Fe and Pb) is identified to be leaching into the ground water in landfill sites across the globe.

Fly ash based geopolymer are suitable as landfill geoliner because they possess higher splitting tensile strength, flexural stress, and compressive strength parameters while having a low permeability. Fly ash can adsorb inorganic pollutants, hence making it a suitable candidate for application as landfill geoliner. This article focuses on use, properties of Fly ash as a candidate for landfill geoliner and also compares the fly ash production/ utilisation in major countries across the globe.

Published in: Materials Today: Proceedings,

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