Water Science and Engineering 2015, 8(3): 257e262

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Water Science and Engineering

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Modified sewage sludge as temporary landfill cover material

Jun He*, Feng Li, Yong Li, Xi-lin Cui
College of Civil and Architectural Engineering, Hubei University of Technology, Wuhan 430068, PR China
Received 20 December 2013; accepted 19 March 2015
Available online 17 August 2015

Abstract

In order to study the feasibility of modified sewage sludge as landfill cover material and its performance in a complex landfill environment,
strength and hydraulic conductivity tests were conducted. The permeability requirements for daily and interim covers were analyzed first. Based
on saturated-unsaturated seepage calculations, it is suggested that approximately 1.0
104 cm/s and 1.0
105 cm/s are the appropriate values
for the hydraulic conductivities of daily and interim covers, respectively. The strength and permeability requirements of the mixtures, when used
as an interim cover, can be met at a sludge:lime:cement:silt:tire-derived aggregate (TDA) weight ratio of 100:15:5:70:15. Results also
demonstrate that the solid content ratio of modified sewage sludge, which should be greater than 60% when modified sewage sludge is used as a
temporary cover material, is crucial to both strength and hydraulic performance. In addition, as the duration of soaking of modified sewage
sludge in synthetic leachate increases, the unconfined compressive strength increases, and the hydraulic conductivity decreases slightly or
fluctuates between 1.0
105 cm/s and 1.0
106 cm/s, still meeting the requirements for an interim cover. The reduction in hydraulic
conductivity of modified sewage sludge under the effect of synthetic leachate, as well as the long-term and environmental performance of the
modified sewage sludge, should be examined in future studies.
© 2015 Hohai University. Production and hosting by Elsevier B.V. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://
creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).

Keywords: Modified sewage sludge; Temporary cover; Hydraulic conductivity; Unconfined compressive strength; Soaking

1. Introduction secondary pollution to the environment if handled improperly.

On the other hand, in a sanitary landfill, a large amount of
In China, the output of urban sewage sludge has been cover material is usually needed to cover the garbage, as
dramatically increasing year by year. However, sludge treat- required in Technical Code for Municipal Solid Waste Sanitary
ment and disposal technology has lagged behind. The publi- Landfill (CJJ 17e2004). Sludge can be used as an alternative
cation Report on Sludge Treatment and Disposal Market in to traditional cover materials such as soil. Furthermore, the
China (2011), from www.h2o-China.com, pointed out that by pollution caused by sludge can be prevented in a closed
2010 the quantity of dewatered sludge was close to 22 million landfill system. However, as sludge usually has relatively high
tons, of which 80% were not disposed of properly. Sludge water content and low strength, modifications are necessary to
contains a large quantity of pollutants, which may cause improve its mechanical properties if it is used as a cover
material in landfills.
Cover systems can be divided into temporary cover
This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of (including daily cover and interim cover) and final cover, and,
China (Grant No. 51008120), the Youth Science and Technology Morning according to CJJ 17e2004, the upper limit of the hydraulic
Program of Wuhan (Grant No. 201271031418), and the Natural Science conductivity (k) for a final cover must be less than
Foundation of Hubei Province (Grant No. 2014CFB606).
* Corresponding author.
1.0
107 cm/s. There is no specification of hydraulic con-
E-mail address: [email protected] (Jun He). ductivity for daily cover, as its main purpose is not to reduce
Peer review under responsibility of Hohai University. the rain invasion. As for an interim cover, the hydraulic

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.wse.2015.03.003
1674-2370/© 2015 Hohai University. Production and hosting by Elsevier B.V. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://
creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).
258 Jun He et al. / Water Science and Engineering 2015, 8(3): 257e262

conductivity must be low enough to prevent the waste from one or two months, the strength was found to show a
being exposed to rain, but the value is not stipulated explicitly decreasing trend and the permeability an increasing one (Chen
in CJJ 17e2004. However, in recent decades, suggestions et al., 2011, 2013). In spite of these findings, there is still a
given for the hydraulic standard of temporary covers have been lack of deep understanding of the interaction between leachate
controversial. Li et al. (2003) suggested that the hydraulic and modified sludge.
conductivity of a temporary cover in a bioreactor landfill be When used as landfill cover material, sludge is usually
high enough to facilitate the recirculation of leachate, but not modified with cement, lime, slag, mineralized refuse, and
so high as to ensure uniform degradation and waste stability. construction waste (Kamon et al., 2002a; Kim et al., 2005;
Therefore, they recommended that the hydraulic conductivity Jiao, 2007; Ma et al., 2007; Zhou et al., 2011). Silt and fly
be maintained at the order of 104 cm/s for a bioreactor ash can be used as an additive to construct the skeleton (Li,
landfill, but low enough for a traditional landfill to reduce the 2006; Yang et al., 2012). As a light-weight material and
output of leachate. Some researchers have pointed out that the good adsorbent of organic contaminants, tire-derived aggre-
hydraulic conductivity of a temporary cover, like that of a final gate (TDA) has been mixed with paper sludge as a daily cover
cover, should not exceed 107 cm/s (Ng and Lo, 2007; Chen material to improve the quality of leachate and overall sta-
et al., 2011). Kamon et al. (2002b) suggested that when bility, and to reduce settlement of solid waste (Ng and Lo,
sludge barrier layers have a hydraulic conductivity of less than 2007, 2010). Nevertheless, the hydraulic conductivities of
1.0
105 cm/s, daily cover systems intercept rainwater at a such modified sludge are usually very low (generally around
satisfactory level. Meanwhile, other researchers have argued 1
107 cm/s) (Ng and Lo, 2007), which might make them
that daily cover and municipal solid waste should be more unsuitable for daily cover. In this study, traditional modifica-
permeable, or that they should have hydraulic conductivities tion materials (i.e., quicklime and cement) along with some
greater than 1.0
104 cm/s. That way, standing water on the waste materials (i.e., abandoned silt and TDA) were used in
cover surface can be prevented (Ma et al., 2007; Jiao, 2007; combination to alter the sludge properties.
Md and Mohamed, 2012). Zhang (2007) determined that One objective of this study was to determine the perme-
soils with either high or low hydraulic conductivity are not ability value appropriate for temporary cover. The effects of
suitable as interim cover materials, since soils with high hy- hydraulic conductivity of interim and daily covers on the
draulic conductivity fail to control rainfall infiltration, and leachate migration were analyzed with unsaturated and satu-
soils with low hydraulic conductivity might cause perched rated seepage software (SEEP/W). Another objective was to
leachate. However, Zhang (2007) did not consider the effects examine the strength and hydraulic performance of the
of permeability of the daily cover and waste. Alternative daily modified sludge proposed in this study after soaking it in water
cover materials are suggested in Standard Guide for Evaluation and synthetic leachate. Based on the results of the study, the
and Selection of Alternative Daily Covers (ADCs) for Sanitary potential effectiveness of the proposed modified sludge as
Landfills (ASTM, 2005), including foams, spray-on slurries, temporary landfill cover material is discussed.
geosynthetics, and indigenous materials (such as sludge, ash,
and shredded tires), which have different levels of perme- 2. Appropriate permeability for temporary covers
ability. In general, the hydraulic conductivity of solid waste
might vary between 3.7
105 cm/s and 4
102 cm/s, The finite element program SEEP/W was used to analyze
according to Qian et al. (2010). Therefore, consider the effects the leachate migration through a landfill element. The simu-
of permeability of the daily cover and waste on the leachate lation test was run in stages: initially, from a drainage layer,
migration in landfills should be considered. only the first waste discharge and daily cover were simulated,
The properties of deeply dewatered sludge and modified and, afterwards, the first interim cover, the second waste
sludge used as temporary landfill cover material have been discharge and daily cover, and the second interim cover were
studied by a number of researchers (Wang et al., 1992; Moo- added in turn. The thicknesses of the drainage layer, waste and
Young and Zimmie, 1996; Kamon et al., 2002a; Kim et al., daily cover, and interim cover were 0.4 m, 7.6 m, and 0.4 m,
2005; Jiao, 2007; Ma et al., 2007; Chen et al., 2011, 2013; respectively. Each layer was deposited for one year before
Zhou et al., 2011). It has been found that sludge can be used as another one was input, and the total simulation time was four
temporary cover material because of its strength, hydraulic years.
performance, and capability of leaching toxicity. So far, the Waste and daily cover was assumed to be a single homo-
relevant studies have not given adequate concern to the effects geneous medium and buried instantaneously. According to the
of leachate on the properties of the temporary cover. In fact, summary by Qian et al. (2010), the saturated hydraulic con-
during the operation and after the closure of a landfill, the ductivity of the waste and daily cover layer were set to a
temporary cover is soaked in the leachate. The interaction minimum value (i.e., 3.7
105 cm/s), an average value (i.e.,
between cover material and leachate might change the prop- 1
103 cm/s), and a maximum value (i.e., 0.04 cm/s),
erties of cover material, such as the strength and hydraulic respectively. A drainage layer with a saturated hydraulic
conductivity. The effect of leachate on the hydraulic conduc- conductivity of 1
102 cm/s was assumed to be located at
tivity of clay liner has received much attention (Frempong and the base of the waste. Saturated hydraulic conductivities of
Yanful, 2008; Guyonnet et al., 2005). After deeply dewatered two interim covers were set to 1
105 and 1
106 cm/s for
sewage sludge was soaked in de-aired water and leachate for two simulations.
 Jun He et al. / Water Science and Engineering 2015, 8(3): 257e262 259

In the simulations, both the waste and daily cover and the quantity increases with the k value of the waste and daily cover,
interim cover were assumed to be composed of unsaturated and the treatment intensity of the leachate might increase
materials. The soil-water characteristic curves of the shallow correspondingly. The decreasing k value of the waste and daily
waste and silty clay reported by Zhang (2007) were used, and cover helps to reduce the leachate treatment load, but might in-
the unsaturated hydraulic conductivity was calculated using crease the water content of the waste. When the water content of
the van Genuchten (1980) model. Initial pressure was set to the waste is equal to the field capacity, the corresponding matric
5 kPa. Zero pressure head was applied to the bottom suction is 10 kPa (or, alternatively, a head of 1 m). Meanwhile,
boundary in order to simulate the free discharge, and the top as shown in Fig. 1, the head in the waste and daily cover is mostly
was a flux boundary. When the rainfall intensity was greater in the range of 0.4 m to 0.2 m when k is at its minimum value
than the hydraulic conductivity, the flux boundary was set to (i.e., 3.7
105 cm/s), which is considerably greater than 1 m,
zero pressure head to simulate the surface runoff. The value of indicating a poorly drained condition. From this perspective, the
the rainfall intensity was selected according to the average permeability of daily cover material cannot be too low.
meteorological data of Wuhan, in Hubei Province, China, In addition, the accumulative water yield over four years
neglecting the effect of evapotranspiration. was determined to be 4.75 m3/m2 with k ¼ 1.0
105 cm/s for
Simulation results are presented in Fig. 1 and Table 1. On the interim cover and k ¼ 1.0
104 cm/s for the waste and
the premise of k ¼ 1.0
103 cm/s for the waste and daily daily cover. After calculation, the head is mostly in the range of
cover, when k ¼ 1.0
106 cm/s is used for the interim cover, 0.35 m to 0.4 m, and there is no saturated zone. These
the water yield in the second year (i.e., 0.5 m3/m2) is much less results suggest that it is appropriate to maintain the hydraulic
than in the first year (i.e., 1.87 m3/m2) or in the second year conductivities of the interim cover and daily cover at around
when k ¼ 1.0
105 cm/s (i.e., 1.41 m3/m2), which indicates 1.0
105 cm/s and 1.0
104 cm/s, respectively, as this
that an interim cover with a lower permeability can reduce the controls the leachate quantity and reduces the water content as
leachate quantity effectively. On the other hand, the k value of well as the head over the interim cover to some degree.
the interim cover has a significant impact on the head over the
first interim cover. The highest head reaches 1.98 m when 3. Modified sludge as temporary cover material
k ¼ 1.0
106 cm/s for the interim cover, while there is no
saturated zone when k ¼ 1.0
105 cm/s. The reduction in In this study, digested sewage sludge was taken from a
hydraulic performance of the interim cover results in leachate sewage plant in Hubei Province, in China. Traditional modi-
perched over the interim cover, which might have negative fication materials, i.e., building quicklime and Portland blast-
effects on the stability of landfill. furnace slag cement, were used to modify the sludge. Pond silt
When the saturated hydraulic conductivity of the waste and from a landfill site in Hubei Province was used to form the
daily cover is at its minimum, average, and maximum values, the skeleton in the modified sludge. The geotechnical properties of
accumulative water yield over four years is 3.86, 6.33, and the pond silt and sludge are listed in Table 2. The sludge has a
7.50 m3/m2, respectively. This indicates that the leachate relatively high water content, high liquid and plastic limits,
and low permeability. In addition, the sludge usually exhibits
low strength, which cannot be measured in an unconfined
compressive test. Hence, the sludge is not suitable for direct
use as temporary cover material.
Samples were prepared by mixing sludge with the modifi-
cation materials at various weight ratios. Preliminary tests
suggest that the curing condition has an important effect on the
water content and strength of the mixture. When the mixture is
cured in indoor natural conditions, the water content decreases
and the strength increases significantly. Moreover, the natural
curing method might simulate the actual landfill environment
well. Hence, in this study, a certain amount of sludge was first
weighed and placed in a mixer for rapid mixing for one minute.
Then, the modification materials were added for another rapid
mixing for five minutes. Finally, the mixed sample was spread
out in a tray and cured for three days in indoor conditions.
Afterwards, water content, strength, and hydraulic conductivity
tests were conducted. The water content was obtained by dry-
ing the samples in an oven at a temperature of 105 C for 24 h.
The unconfined compressive strength was measured with a
calcareous soil pressure tester. A displacement rate of 1% per
minute and a total displacement of 15% were adopted. The
saturated hydraulic conductivity was measured with a falling
Fig. 1. Head distribution in third year with different k values. head permeability test using a QY1-2 piezometer, with a
260 Jun He et al. / Water Science and Engineering 2015, 8(3): 257e262

Table 1
Summary of calculation parameters and results.
k of interim k of waste and Maximum head Water yield in Water yield in Water yield in Water yield in Accumulative
cover (cm/s) daily cover (cm/s) over first interim first year second year third year fourth year water yield
cover (m) (m3/m2) (m3/m2) (m3/m2) (m3/m2) over four
years (m3/m2)
1.0
105 1.0
103 0 1.87 1.41 1.70 1.35 6.33
1.0
106 1.0
103 1.98 1.87 0.50 1.02 1.08 4.47
1.0
105 3.7
105 0.01 0.72 1.37 0.72 1.05 3.86
1.0
105 4.0
102 0.02 2.42 1.42 2.32 1.34 7.50
1.0
105 1.0
104 0.02 1.14 1.38 0.88 1.35 4.75

Table 2
Geotechnical properties of modification materials.
Material Water content (%) Natural density (g/cm3) Specific gravity Liquid limit (%) Plastic limit (%) Soil classificationc k (cm/s)
Sludge a
554.1 (84.7 ) b
1.13 1.61 515.1 94.8 High liquid limit clay 3.7
108
Pond silt 82.2a 1.54 2.48 64.3 30.7 e
Note: a means weight ratio of water to solid phases; b means weight ratio of water to the total; and c is according to Specification of Soil Test (SL 237e1999) in
China.

normal stress of 50 kPa. All tests were carried out according to hydraulic conductivity of the modified sludge was
Specification of Soil Test (SL 237e1999). 3.1
107 cm/s, which failed to meet the permeability
Orthogonal experiments were conducted first, in order to requirement for temporary cover, as mentioned in section 2.
examine the strength and hydraulic performance of the In an effort to increase the hydraulic conductivity of the
sludge modified using lime, cement, and silt with a modified sludge, TDA was used as well. TDA was obtained from
sludge:lime:cement:silt weight ratio of 100:15:5:70. It was a company in Hubei Province. No metal pieces were found in the
determined that the strength of the modified sludge was TDA and its specific gravity was 1.2. The particle size ranged
improved rapidly and significantly. After three days of curing, from 4 mm to 8 mm, which meant it was fine and medium
the unconfined compressive strength was 150.6 kPa, which gravel. The adopted tire content was in the range of 10%e30%
was greater than 50 kPa and met the strength requirement for of the sludge weight. The test results for the sludge modified
temporary cover according to GB/T 23485e2009. The with lime, cement, silt, and TDA are shown in Figs. 2 and 3.
As shown in Fig. 2, both the unconfined compressive
strength and the hydraulic conductivity demonstrate a gener-
ally decreasing trend with the increase in water content. At a
relatively low water content (less than 40%), the unconfined
compressive strength is relatively high (greater than 100 kPa)

Fig. 2. Relationships between water content*, unconfined compres-

sive strength, and hydraulic conductivity. (* means the weight ratio of Fig. 3. Relationships between tire content, unconfined compressive
water to the total.) strength, and hydraulic conductivity.
 Jun He et al. / Water Science and Engineering 2015, 8(3): 257e262 261

and the hydraulic conductivity is greater than 1.0
106 cm/s

(ranging from 1.6
106 cm/s to 2.7
105 cm/s). When the
water content increases to around 40%, the unconfined
compressive strength decreases remarkably, and the hydraulic
conductivity reaches the order of 107 cm/s and no longer
meets the permeability requirement for temporary cover.
Hence, it is very important to control the water content when
using modified sludge as temporary cover. In other words, it is
essential to maintain the solid content at a level greater than
60%, an amount also in agreement with Chen et al. (2013).
The relationships between the tire content, unconfined
compressive strength, and hydraulic performance of the
modified sludge are shown in Fig. 3. It can be seen that the
unconfined compressive strength decreases with the increase
in the tire content, which corresponds with the findings of Xin
et al. (2010). This is because TDA is an inert matter and
consists of coarse particles. Therefore, it cannot react with
cement to form a skeleton in the same way as silt. In addition,
with the increase in the tire content, the ratio of lime and
cement to the total decreases relatively. Hence, the hydration
cementation decreases accordingly. In spite of the factors
mentioned above, the strength of the modified sludge sample
using TDA is still greater than 50 kPa even if the tire content
reaches 30%. As for the modified sludge at a relatively low
water content, the hydraulic conductivity is close to Fig. 4. Relationships between unconfined compressive strength and
soaking time in water and synthetic leachate.
1.0
105 cm/s when the tire content is between 15% and
20%, meeting the permeability requirement of an interim
cover as well. Considering both strength and hydraulic per-
formance, it is appropriate to adopt a tire content of 15%e
20%, and 15% was chosen for the subsequent tests.

4. Modified sludge soaking in water and synthetic leachate

After three days of curing, the water content of the modi-

fied sludge with 15% tire content by weight was measured.
The samples with water contents of less than 40% were
compacted, and the unsaturated and vacuum-saturated samples
were subjected to unconfined strength tests. Other compacted
samples were soaked in water for 30 days and in synthetic Fig. 5. Relationships between hydraulic conductivity and soaking
time in water and synthetic leachate.
leachate for 60 days. Ca2þ and Cle are the common pollutant
ions in landfill leachate, and phenol is the top-priority
controlled pollutant in China and in the world, as it is time. The relationship between the hydraulic conductivity and
commonly detected in the leachate of municipal and industrial soaking time is shown in Fig. 5. The effect of soaking in water
landfills (Varank et al., 2011). Therefore, solutions with a and synthetic leachate on the hydraulic conductivity is not
CaCl2 concentration of 0.05 mol/L and phenol concentration significant. As soaking time goes on, the hydraulic conduc-
of 1 g/L, representing the organic and inorganic pollutants, tivity fluctuates around 1.0
105 cm/s. In the case of syn-
respectively, were selected as synthetic leachates. The results thetic leachate, although the hydraulic conductivity decreases
are shown in Figs. 4 and 5. slightly, it is still greater than 1.0
106 cm/s.
The relationship between the unconfined compressive These results are different from those reported on deeply
strength and soaking time is described in Fig. 4. The uncon- dewatered sludge by Chen et al. (2013), who stated that the
fined compressive strength of vacuum-saturated samples is strength decreased slightly and the hydraulic conductivity
less than that of the unsaturated ones when the time is zero, increased slightly when deeply dewatered sludge was soaking in
but still meets the strength requirement of 50 kPa (GB/T water and leachate. This difference is mainly due to the existence
23485e2009). As soaking time goes on, the unconfined of lime and cement in the modified sludge in this study. The
compressive strength of groups of samples in water (Fig. 4(a)) hydration reaction of lime and cement takes time, which results
and synthetic leachate (Fig. 4(b)) have a tendency to generally in an increase in strength with soaking time. When soaking in the
increase. The increase is more remarkable at early soaking synthetic leachage, the components in the modified sludge can
262 Jun He et al. / Water Science and Engineering 2015, 8(3): 257e262

adsorb the phenol and Ca2þ (Chen et al., 2009), which might Frempong, E.M., Yanful, E.K., 2008. Interaction between three tropical soils
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