Some black cotton soils of Ghana; A potential for use in geosynthetic clay liners
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Full Text |
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Author |
Umar-Farouk Usman, S. K. Y. Gawu and Ofosu Bernard
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e-ISSN |
1819-6608 |
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On Pages
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1207-1214
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Volume No. |
18
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Issue No. |
11
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Issue Date |
August 13, 2023
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DOI |
https://doi.org/10.59018/0623157
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Keywords |
black cotton soil, geosynthetic clay liner, montmorillonite, and permeability.
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Abstract
Black cotton soils contain the clay mineral montmorillonite which is the property of bentonite that makes it useful in geosynthetic clay liners. These soils occur in large quantities in Ghana. Importation of geosynthetic clay liners which contain bentonite as the major barrier material is expensive and a local alternative will have positive economic repercussions. The hydraulic conductivity of black cotton soils from Dowhenya, Prampram, and Tsopoli all in the Accra plains of Ghana were sandwiched between two geotextiles, tested, and compared to commercial bentonite. The results of the swell index test were 7.0mL/2g, 7.0mL/2g, 5.0mL/2g, and 30mL/2g for Dowhenya, Prampram, Tsopoli, and commercial bentonite respectively. The water content results obtained were 12.20%, 10.13%, 10.83%, and 17.48% for Dowhenya, Prampram, Tsopoli, and commercial bentonite respectively. The particle size distribution test results indicated that clay fractions are 83.4%, 71.3%, 72.9%, and 95.0% for Dowhenya, Prampram, Tsopoli, and commercial bentonite respectively. pH results determined are 7.86, 7.82, 7.90, and 10.24 for Dowhenya, Prampram, Tsopoli, and commercial bentonite respectively. The permeability of Dowhenya, Prampram, and Tsopoli black cotton soils was determined to be 1.03 X 10-9cm/s, 7.61 X 10-9cm/s, 2.04 X 10-9cm/s and these compare well to the commercial bentonite permeability value of 2.08 X 10-9cm/s tested under the same conditions. Based on the results, black cotton soils from these areas can be used as a potential substitute for commercial bentonite in geosynthetic clay liners.
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