Evaluation of Metal Attenuation through Paper Clay Utilized for Containment of Contaminated Groundwater

Paper clay has several properties that make its use in vertical barriers very promising. In this paper the characteristics of two paper sludges (which will also be referred to as paper clays) one from the Erving Paper Company and one from the International Paper Company are considered. To determine the feasibility of paper clay for heavy metal attenuation, batch tests, column tests, hydraulic conductivity tests, and pressure filtration tests were performed. Batch testing showed that the metal, the distribution coefficient (Kd) ranged from as low as 0.002 L/g for manganese to as high as 6.7 L/g for lead in International paper clay. In the Erving paper clay the Kd ranged from 0.007 L/g for manganese to 1.9 L/g for cadmium, while the International paper clay Kd ranged from 0.002 L/g for manganese to 6.7 L/g for lead. Chemisorption was established as the predominant metal binding mechanism in both clays with the only exceptions being manganese adsorption on International paper clay that indicated a constant partitioning, and copper and lead on Erving paper clay that indicated constant partitioning and cooperative adsorption, respectively. Both hydraulic conductivity and pressure filtration tests revealed permeabilities ranging from 10-5 to 10-7 cm/s. Chloride testing showed that the coefficient of hydrodynamic dispersion (D) within paper clay is on the order of 10-7 cm2/s.