The Breakthrough Time Analyses of Lead Ions in CCL considering Different Adsorption Isotherms

Abstract EN

As the 2 m thick compacted clay liner with permeability coefficient of 1 × 10−7 cm/s is required in the Chinese technical specifications about landfill, the performance of this compacted clay liner was analyzed considering three different adsorption isotherms (convex, straight, and concave).

The effects of source concentration, adsorption mode, and waterhead on the breakthrough curve and breakthrough time of Pb2+ were discussed.

The results indicate that reducing the concentration of pollution sources is beneficial to prolonging the breakthrough time.

With the waterhead of 10 m, the absolute breakthrough time, respectively, increased from 2.77 to 3.7 years (concave type isotherm), from 17.63 to 26.58 years (straight type isotherm), and from 35.43 to 59.6 years (convex type isotherm), as the source concentration decreased from 1000 mg/L to 10 mg/L.

The effect of adsorption isotherm type on the performance of the barrier is very obvious: with the waterhead of 10 m, the absolute breakthrough time corresponding to the convex isotherm is more than twice that of the straight adsorption isotherm, and more than 12.8 times that of the concave isotherm.

The absolute breakthrough time corresponding to 0.3 m waterhead is more than 4 times that of 10 m, and reducing the waterhead can effectively increase the breakthrough time.