A Synopsis report on

EFFECTS OF LEACHATE ON ENGINEERING PROPERTIES OF SOIL

Submitted by:-

Ritesh B. Chavan

Tushar A. Patole

Priyanka K. Wagh

Jarar T. Saire

PROJECT REPORT SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILMENT

For The Degree Of

BACHELOR OF ENGINEERING

CIVIL DEPARTMENT

Guide:
S. P. Gaikwad

Y. T. C. E. M. Karjat
ACADEMIC YEAR 2019-2020

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 DECLARATION

I hereby declare that this submission is my own work and that, to the best of my knowledge
and belief, it contains no material previously published or written by another person nor
material which to a substantial extent has been accepted for the award of any other degree or
diploma of the university or other institute of higher learning, except where due
acknowledgment has been made in the text.

Ritesh B. Chavan __________________

Tushar A. Patole ___________________

Priyanka K. Wagh__________________

Jarar T. Saire______________________

Date: -
Place:-

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 DEPARTMENT OF CIVIL ENGINEERING
YADAVRAO TASGAONKAR COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING AND MANAGEMENT
KARJAT
2019-2020

CERTIFICATE

This is to certify that the project entitled ‘EFFECT OF LEACHATE ON THE ENGINEERING
PROPERTIES OF THE SOIL’ submitted by Ritesh B. Chavan, Tushar A. Patole, Priyanka K. Wagh,
Jarar T. Saire. As a part of their Final Year project for the award of the degree of Bachelor of Technology
in Civil Engineering from Yadavrao Tasgaonkar College Of Engineering and Management, Karjat, is a
record of students’ own work carried out by them under my guidance and supervision.

The matter embodied in this report has not been submitted for the award of any other degree.

Place:
Date:

Guide: - Project co- Ordinator

S. P. Gaikwad. S. P. Gaikwad

H.O.D. Principal
S.P. Gaikwad. Prof. Raju Sairise

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 PROJECT SYNOPSIS APPROVAL FOR B.E

This project entitled ‘The Effect of Leachate on the Engineering Properties of Soil.’
Submitted by:-

Ritesh B. Chavan

Tushar A. Patole

Priyanka K. Wagh

Jarar T. Saire

Is approved for the degree of Bachelor of Engineering in Civil Engineering.

Examiners:
1. ______________
2. ______________

Date:
Place:

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 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

It gives us immense pleasure to present the project report on “Effect of Leachate on the
Engineering Properties of the Soil”.

We feel obliged to express our sincere gratitude and thanks to our honorable guide S. P.
Gaikwad, Head Of Department, Civil Engineering, Yadavrao Tasgaonkar College Of
Engineering and Management, Karjat, for his affably, erudite and worthy guidance,
supervision, consistent encouragement, cooperation, keen interest shown through our work,
without which it would have been impossible to complete this work in a fruitful manner.

Having been able to complete our project successfully, it is the moment of great satisfaction
for us and we feel euphoric to extend our sincere thanks to all our friends and faculty
members of the Yadavrao Tasgaonkar College of Engineering and Management, for helping
us directly or indirectly in completion of this work.

Ritesh B. Chavan

Tushar A. Patole

Priyanka K. Wagh

Jarar T. Saire

5
 ABSTRACT

The project work on “THE EFFECT OF LEACHATE ON ENGINEERING PROPERTIES

OF SOIL” is an effective study on the physical characteristics of the soil after being exposed
to a highly reactive and nutrient rich liquid, which has the ability of deteriorating materials
like gypsum and cement. The project work comes under two different streams environmental
engineering and geotechnical engineering. Our work is confined to the geotechnical portion.
The physical analysis of the soil includes testing the soil for various engineering and index
properties of soil.

Solid waste open dumps are sited indiscriminately in Mumbai and are always potential
hazards to health, loss of soil nutrients and are sources of groundwater pollution. The study
will investigate the effects of leachate on some engineering properties of three different soil
conditions which includes a soil site where no dumping has been done, second site is one
where dumping has been done for past three year and the last is the site where dumping has
been done for a longer span of time around 92 years. A comparative study will be done to
determine the effect of leachate. In order to determine whether there are significant
differences between the characteristics at different dump a statistical test of hypothesis will
be carried out. The values of the specific gravity, liquid limit, plasticity limit, permeability,
moisture content, dry density and direct shear test will be evaluated in the soil under the
dumps. The results will indicate the needs for proper site investigation before solid waste
dumps are selected.

The project work will comprise of a comparative analysis of three different soil samples in
order to bring out the contrast in the change in properties of the affected soil. Vast research
is being done in the field of environmental science to counter the problem of leachate and
to treat the affected soil. As it is known that leachate is not any special structured chemical
compound nor it is a highly reactive nuclear waste , it is just liquid which through the
leaching action collect all the ingredients presents in that layer it passes by. It is a naturally
occurring liquid which is so reactive that it can completely deteriorate the soil and make it
barren

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.The project work has been divided into 4 stages

1. Site selection
2. Sampling of soil
3. Lab testing
4. Comparative analysis

1. Site selection

The selection of site has been done keeping in mind the need to evaluate the effect of leachate over
the soil at the sites. For this purpose the sites need to be old enough and must have seen at least one
monsoon. The season of monsoon is necessary for the formation of leachate, as leachate is formed by
the percolation of water through the layer in open garbage dumps. Sites of varying age have been
selected in order to highlight the effect of leachate. The older the site is more is the leachate formed
and more is the effect on soil. The site selected is rich in garbage dump and the variety of refuse in it.
A healthy site has also been taken into consideration to highlight the difference between the
properties of a healthy soil and an affected one. The two affected sites taken into consideration vary
in their age, which contrasts effect of leachate on the soil.
Site 1 – At Dr. Keshav Baliram Hedgevar Udhyan, Ghatkopar, Mumbai: Normal soil site
Site 2 – Kanjurmarg Dumping Ground, Kanjurmarg, Mumbai: Young Dumping site
Site 3 – Deonar Dumping Ground, Gowandi, Mumbai: Old Dumping site.

2.Sampling of soil

Soil sampling will be done keeping in mind the various tests to be perfumed. The samples extracted will
be disturbed samples. Soil samples will be extracted from the site at considerable depth wiz. At grass
root level for the healthy site, at a depth of 1 ft. at the dumping site at Kanjurmarg Dumping ground,
Kanjurmarg, Mumbai and the depth of extraction of soil from the site at Deonar Dumping ground,
Gowandi, Mumbai will be more than 15 ft.
The soil samples will be collected from the points where the concentration of leachate is assumed
to be maximum on the basis of observed surface moisture content.

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3.Lab Testing

After collecting soil sample we will test the soil sample by performing test of liquid limit, plastic limit,
permeability, direct shear, specific gravity, moisture content and dry density test. We are highly thankful
to the H.O.D. of Dilkap College and Institutes of Engineering, Karjat, department of Civil Engineering,
for making us available with the lab support and we are thankful to the staff for devoting their precious
time.

4.Comparative Analysis

The comparative analysis in the project will be done on the basis of the result obtained from various tests
performed on the soil samples. These results will clearly depict the effect of leachate over the soil
samples. The tests will be performed in order to carry out a physical analysis of the soil samples. The
tests to be performed to get the current state of the physical properties such as liquid limit, plastic limit,
etc.

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 TABLE OF CONTENTS
DECLARATION ........................................................................................................ 2

CERTIFICATE ............................................................................................................3

SYNOPSIS APPROVAL…………………………………………………………….4

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT .......................................................................................... 5

ABSTRACT ...............................................................................................................6

1. INTRODUCTION………………………………………………10
2. OBJECTIVES…………………………………………………...17
3. LITERATURE REVIEW………………………………………..18
4. SITE SELECTED………………………………………………..22
5. PROPERTIES OF SOIL…………………………………………24
6. EXPECTED CONCLUSION…………………………………….26
7. REFERENCE……………………………………………………..31

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 1. INTRODUCTION

1.1 What is Leachate? The Secret Story of Leachate

Leachate can be any water that once it has drained through a medium takes up chemicals and
solid materials during its passage. The term leachate is most often used in connection with
landfills. Landfill leachate is contaminated 'dirty' water that is produced when rainwater
comes into contact with waste materials on the area of the landfill. It contains a large number
of different contaminants, probably the most significant of which is ammonia.
The second most common type of leachate encountered is the black odorous run-off from
manure heaps and from some composting facilities.
If leachate is allowed to leak from a landfill it will usually cause pollution both locally around
the waste, and it may form a plume of contamination within groundwater’s it enters and a
plume of groundwater pollution may move away from the landfill over time to contaminate
wells and ay drinking water taken from them over time to contaminate wells and any drinking
water taken from the
Leachate forms from both the combination of liquids that are dumped in a tip or landfill, and
liquids that form through decomposition of wastes, as precipitation filters through the wastes.
It is a liquid which is mostly organically contaminated but which will also contain low levels
of most of the liquids disposed of in the landfill from which it emanates.
Sometimes leachate can be produced by a landfill, which is sealed by a low permeability
capping layer. That is normally the result of a rise in pressure on the landfill when additional
loads are placed on the landfill forcing compression of the structure or the presence of excess
water.
Leachate is produced by the percolation of precipitation through a landfill (from rainfall and
snowmelt) once it penetrates the landfill's daily, intermediate, or final cover. However, the
quantity that penetrates a well vegetated cover is lower than many expect, due to the
evaporation from the surface, which will include the transpiration from the leaves of the
foliage on the surface. As the water passes vertically downward through the waste mass, it
comes into contact with the waste, picking up chemical contaminants and biological impurities
as it goes, and the deeper the waste the stronger it gets. It also gets stronger if it stands from a

10
long while in the waste which is not highly surprising.
There are two main types of leachate produced in landfills which contain biological municipal
solid waste (MSW). These are known as acetogenic leachate and methanogenic leachate. The
methanogenic type is often black in color always smelly and may smell of bad eggs.
Methanogenic only has only a slight smell and is brown or golden colored. Acetogenic
leachate is the young leachate which is produced in a landfill first. It has a very high Chemical
Oxygen Demand (COD) which can be as high as hundreds of thousands of milligrams per liter
for short periods, soon after the cells of the organic waste break open or "lyse" and the
complex compounds which make up live cell tissue drain out of the cells.

The demand for oxygen in a modern quite rapidly filled landfill, is so intense that within a few
months of deposition a new cell of waste will lack oxygen within the airspaces. Oxygen will be
present in the waste which is then said to be in an anoxic condition.
Over time the original oxygen in the waste and in the leachate becomes depleted as biological
fermentation proceeds, and at some point ancient bacteria which have always been present in
airless bogs and swamps and lie dormant in our environment multiply and take over the
reaction within the waste. These are known as methanogenic bacteria. Why are they called that?
Well, it is simple really! They produce the gas known as methane!
All that brings us around to the point where we can now define methanogenic leachate. Yes.
You have guessed it. Methanogenic leachate is the leachate that is produce by methane
producing anaerobic landfill. By the time it has become methanogenic however, the process
of decomposition by fermentation has reduced the COD to quite possibly 1/100th of its
maximum value, or even 1/1000th.
However, the leachate is hardly any less toxic to aquatic life, because the ammonia present in
dissolved and gaseous forms remains high, and thus as we stated earlier is one of the most
important contaminants in leachate.
That is the story of leachate from young (acetogenic) to old (methanogenic)

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 1.2 More on Leachate

Leachate is any liquid that, in passing through matter, extracts solutes, suspended solids or any
other component of the material through which it has passed.
Leachate is a widely used term in the environmental sciences where it has the specific meaning
of a liquid that has dissolved or entrained environmentally harmful substances which may then
enter the environment. It is most commonly used in the context of land-filling of putrescible or
industrial waste.
In the narrow environmental context leachate is therefore any liquid material that drains from
land or stockpiled material and contains significantly elevated concentrations of undesirable
material derived from the material that it has passed through. Leachate may also be defined as
a product or solution formed by leaching, especially a solution containing contaminants picked
up through the leaching of soil. Leachate is water that carries salts dissolved out of materials
through which it has percolated, especially polluted water from a refuse tip.
Leachate is a solution resulting from leaching, as of soluble constituents from soil, landfill,
etc., by downward percolating ground water.

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 1.3 Landfill leachate

Leachate from a landfill varies widely in composition depending on the age of the landfill and
the type of waste that it contains. It can usually contain both dissolved and suspended material.
The generation of leachate is caused principally by precipitation percolating through waste
deposited in a landfill. Once in contact with decomposing solid waste, the percolating water
becomes contaminated and if it then flows out of the waste material it is termed leachate.
Additional leachate volume is produced during this decomposition of carbonaceous material
producing a wide range of other materials including methane, carbon dioxide and a complex
mixure of organic acids, aldyhydes, alcohols, and simple sugar. The risk of leachate generation
can be mitigated by properly designed and engineered landfill sites, such as sites that are
constructed on geologically impermeable materials or sites that use impermeable liners made
of geomembranes or engineered clay. The use of linings is now mandatory within both the
United States and the European Union except where the waste is deemed inert. In addition,
most toxic and difficult materials are now specifically excluded from landfilling. However
despite much stricter statutory controls leachates from modern sites are found to contain a
range of contaminants that may either be associated with some level of illegal activity or may
reflect the ubiquitous use of a range of difficult materials in household and domestic products
which enter the waste stream legally.

1.4 Composition of landfill leachate

When water percolates through the waste, it promotes and assists the process of decomposition
by bacteria and fungi. These processes in turn release by- products of decomposition and
rapidly use up any available oxygen creating an anoxic environment. In actively decomposing
waste the temperature rises and the pH falls rapidly and many metal ions which are relatively
insoluble at neutral pH can become dissolved in the developing leachate. The decomposition
processes themselves release further water which adds to the volume of leachate. Leachate also
reacts with materials that are not themselves prone to decomposition such as fire ash, cement
based building materials and gypsum based materials changing the chemical composition. In
sites with large volumes of building waste, especially those containing gypsum plaster, the
reaction of leachate with the gypsum can generate large volumes of hydrogen sulfide which
may be released in the leachate and may also form a large component of the landfill gas.
In a landfill that receives a mixture of municipal, commercial, and mixed industrial waste, but
excludes significant amounts of concentrated specific chemical waste, landfill leachate may be

13
characterized as a water-based solution of four groups of contaminants; dissolved organic
matter (alcohols, acids, aldehydes, short chains, sugar etc.), inorganic macro compnents
(common cations and anions including sulphate, chloride, iron,aliminium,zinc and ammonia),
heavy metals (Pa, Ni, Cu, Hg) and xenobiotic organic compounds such as halogenated
organics, (PCBs, dioxins, etc.). The physical appearance of leachate when it emerges from a
typical landfill site is a strongly odoured black, yellow or orange colored cloudy liquid. The
smell is acidic and offensive and may be very pervasive because of hydrogen, nitrogen and
sulfur rich organic species such as mercaptans.

1.5 History of landfill leachate collection

In the UK, in the late 1960s, central Government policy was to ensure new landfill sites were
being chosen with permeable underlying geological strata to avoid the build-up of leachate.
This policy was dubbed "dilute and disperse".
However, following a number of cases where this policy was seen to be failing and an expose
in "The Sunday Times" of serious environmental damage being caused by inappropriate
disposal of industrial wastes both policy and the law was changed. The Deposit of Poisonous
Wastes Act 1972 together with The 1974 Local Government Act, made local government
responsible for waste disposal and also responsible for environmental standards enforcement
for waste disposal. Proposed landfill locations also needed to be justified not only by
geography but also scientifically. Many European countries decided to select sites in
groundwater free clay geological conditions or to seal each site with an engineered lining. In
the wake of European advancements, the United States increased its development of leachate
retaining and collection systems. This quickly led from lining in principle, into the use of
multiple lining layers in all landfills (minus those truly inert).

1.6 Environmental impact

The risks from waste leachate are due to its high organic contaminant concentrations and high
concentration of ammonia. Pathogenic microorganisms that might be present in it are often
cited as the most important, but pathogenic organism counts reduce rapidly with time in the
landfill, so this only applies to the most fresh leachate. Toxic substances may however be
present in variable concentration and their presence is related to the nature of the waste
deposited. Most landfills containing organic material will produce methane, some of which
dissolves in the leachate. This could in theory be released in weakly ventilated areas in the

14
treatment plant. All plants in Europe must now be assessed under the EU ATEX Directive and
zoned where explosion risks are identified to prevent future accidents. The most important
requirement is the prevention of discharge of dissolved methane from untreated leachate when
it is discharged into public sewers, and most sewage treatment authorities limit the permissible
discharge concentration of dissolved methane to 0.14 mg/l, or 1/10 of the lower explosive
limit. This entails methane stripping from the leachate.
The greatest environmental risks occur in the discharges from older sites constructed before
modern engineering standards became mandatory and also from sites in the developing world
where modern standards have not been applied. There are also substantial risks from illegal
sites and ad-hoc sites used by criminal gangs to dispose of waste materials. Leachate streams
running directly into the aquatic environment have both an acute and chronic impact on the
environment which may be very severe and can severely diminish bio- diversity and greatly
reduce populations of sensitive species. Where toxic metals and organics are present this can
lead to chronic toxin accumulation in both local and far distant populations. Rivers impacted
by leachate are often yellow in appearance and often support severe overgrowths of sewage
fungus.

1.7 Other types of leachate

Leachate can also be produced from land that was contaminated by chemicals or toxic materials
used in industrial activities such as factories, mines or storage sites. Composting sites in high
rainfall also produce leachate.Leachate is also associated with stockpiled coal and with waste
materials from metal ore mining and other rock extraction processes, especially those in which
sulphide containing materials are exposed to air and thus to oxygen generating acidic, sulphur-
rich liquors, often with elevated metal concentrations.In the context of civil engineering (more
specifically reinforced concrete design), leachate refers to the effluent of pavement wash-off
(that may include melting & ice with salt) that permeates through the cement paste onto the
surface of the steel reinforcement, thereby catalyzing its oxidation and degradation. Leachates
can be geotoxic in nature.

1.8 Engineering properties & index properties

1.8.1 (a)Engineering Properties-The main engineering properties of the soil are

permeability, compressibility and shear strength. Permeability indicates the facility with
which water can flow through soils. It is required for estimation of seepage discharge through

15
 earth masses. Compressibility is related with the deformations produced in soils when they
are subjected to compressive loads. Compression characteristics are required for computation
of settlement of structures founded on soils. Shear strength of a soil is its ability to resist the
shear stresses. The shear strength determines the stability of slopes, bearing capacity of soils
and the earth pressure on retaining structures.

1.8.2 (b)Index Properties-The tests required for determination of engineering properties are
generally elaborate and time consuming. Sometimes, the geotechnical engineer is interested
to have some rough assessment of the engineering properties without conducting elaborate
tests. This is possible if index properties are determined. The properties of soils which are
not of primary interest to the geotechnical engineer but which are indicative of the
engineering properties are called index properties. Simple tests which are required to
determine the index properties are known as classification tests. The soils are classified and
identified based on the index properties.
The index properties are sometimes divided into two categories.

(1) Properties of individual particles, and

(2) Properties of soil mass, also known as aggregate properties.

The properties of individual particles can be determined from a remolded, disturbed sample.
These depend upon the individual grains and are independent of the manner of soil
formation. The soil aggregate properties depend upon the mode of soil formation, soil history
and soil structure. The properties should be determined by undisturbed samples or preferably
from in-situ tests. The most important properties of the individual particles of coarse grained
soils are the particle size distribution and grain shape. The aggregate property of the coarse-
grained soils of great practical importance is its relative density.

The index properties give some information about engineering properties. It is tacitly
assumed that soils with like index properties have identical engineering properties. However,
the correlation between index properties and engineering properties is not perfect. A liberal
factor of safety should be provided if the design is based only on the engineering properties.
Design of large, important structures should be done only after determination of engineering
properties.

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 2. OBJECTIVE

To prepare a comparative analysis report on the effect of leachate on the engineering

properties of the soils taken from three different sites. Sites are so chosen that the waste dump
on them differs in age.

Site Selected

Site -1 : Normal soil: Dr. Keshav Baliram Hedgevar Udhyan, Ghatkopar, Mumbai
The Normal site is taken as the keeping in mind that there no dumping activity is being done
in past years and regular maintenance of soil is being done for gardening. Hence we are taking
this site for comparing all the test results from the other two dumping sides.

Site -2 : Kanjurmarg Dumping Ground, Kanjurmarg, Mumbai

This is our another site where dumping is being done for past few years, All the domestic
waste of the organisation is been done here, hence fresh layers of dump can be obtained . This
particularly will help us in making an easy comparison of the test results in between the
normal site and other sites of different dumping conditions.

SITE -3 : Deonar Dumping Ground, Gowandi, Mumbai: Old Dumping site

This site lies in the Mumbai city where nearly all the waste is being dumped from past few
decade .This site is of great importance in making a healthy comparison of the test results.

17
 3. LITERATURE REVIEW

Each year, 1.3 billion tons of Municipal Solid Waste (MSW) are produced on the planet, with a value of
2.2 billion pro-jected for 2025 (SHAH et al., 2017). According to Kamaruddin et al. (2017), the current
global scenario indicates that 94.5% of MSW is directed towards landfills. In Brazil, according to
ABRELPE (2018), 78 million tons were produced in 2017 and only 59,1% were intended to landfills.
Therefore, it is important to understand that one of the main environmental impacts of MSW disposal are
the leachates (TALALAJ, 2015). This liquid without proper control has a negative and direct effect over
the environment, reaching soil and water resources, the economy and society are also affected. It
compromises the social aspects such as public health and water security (DI MARIA and. SISANI,
2017).

The generation of leachate occurs due to biodegradation of MSW provided by anaerobic and/or aerobic
microorganism combined with residues characteristics and precipitation (FRANCO et al.; 2017). It is
important to elucidate that organic and inorganic recycling process reduce the amount of leachate
produced due to the deviation of litter from landfills. Leachate has a dark color and contains inorganic
salts, possibly heavy metals, ammoniacal nitrogen and refractory and biodegradable organic matter
(FERRAZ et al., 2016). Its composition has a vast physicochemical and biological variability, depending
on factors such as residues type, clime, hydrology and landfill physical characteristics. Due to leachate
high pollution potential, environ-mental control agencies were pressured by society to implement more
rigid leachate discharge parameters (RAGAZZI, 2016).

Therefore, the aim of this article is to present a bibliographical review addressing the different leachate
treatment techno-logies, evaluating them through their applicability, functionalities, advantages,
disadvantages and uncertainties, in order to provide a better view of this scenario and help the correct
choice of leachate treatment.

The state of the art of the landfill leachate treatment was carried out by searching technical and academic
references, such as: scientific articles, international conference papers and company’s technical
documents. The documents were obtained utilizing the databases Scopus and Science Direct, applying
the key words: leachate, leachate treatment, membranes treatments and landfills. Consultations with
professionals of the area were also made. Furthermore, the Mendeley platform was used to manage and
discover bibliographic data.

18
The documents published in the last five years were prioritized, but the former relevant ones were not
discarded. The documents selected, in addition to describe landfills leachate treatment techniques, had
empirical results regarding operation as well as advanta-ges and disadvantages of the systems. Thereby,
comparative analyzes could be made between the various methods and techniques.

Technology Selection

The choice of the best treatment technology for an specific leachate covers several aspects: flow
generation and physico-chemical composition of the leachate, available area for the system plant,
investment capacity and operation of the landfill (CAPEX / OPEX) and compliance with the norms and
laws established by the local environmental agency (BIDONE, 2007).

According to Renou et al. (2008), treatment technologies can be divided into three classes: recirculation
at the landfill, bio-degradation, and physicochemical methods (which contains the membrane methods).
However, membrane technologies require a preliminary chemical treatment, followed by a physical
treatment provided by membranes, thus differing from traditional physicochemical processes. For this
reason, although the previous classification is currently the most used, the present study considered it
pertinent to classify the leachate treatment methods in four thematic axes, namely: biological,
physicochemical, co-treatment with domestic sewage and membranes; as shown in figure 2.

Figure 2 - Classification of leachate treatment methods

Source: Authors elaboration

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Technologies for Leachate Treatment

Biological Treatments are used for biodegradation of organic compounds, especially in leachates with
high con-centration of Biochemical Oxygen Demand (BOD), due to the relative simplicity and cost-
effectiveness associated to it. These techniques promote, through the decomposing activity of
microorganisms, transformation of the compounds pres-ent in leachate on: carbonic gas and biomass at
sludge form, when submitted to aerobic conditions; and biogas, when submitted to anaerobic conditions.
This type of treatment is advised and is efficient for new immature leachates, where the ratio of
Biochemical and Chemical Oxygen Demands (BOD / COD) are greater than 0.5 (PENG, 2013).
However, these types of treatments have operational sensitivity and tend to have its efficiency affected by
the physicochemical and bio-logical variability of the leachate. Likewise, another worrisome factor, when
placed alone, this technology doesn’t remove recalcitrant substances, such as refractory organic matter
and drugs. Table 1 summarizes the advantages and disadvan-tages of applying biological treatments for
leachate remediation”.

Table 1 - Advantages and disadvantages of biological treatment systems for leachate

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Physicochemical Treatments

Physicochemical processes originated of the need to improve the efficiency of biological treatment
systems. Thus, they are generally used downstream of a biological pre-treatment. This system acts by
modifying the chemical structures of specific pollutants, or physical elements with capacity to retain or
eliminate pollutants. Furthermore, the process choice is specific, being directly related to the parameters
to be reached on (COSTA, 2015).
Table 2 - Advantages and disadvantages of leachate physicochemical treatment systems

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 4. SITE SELECTED

Site -1 : Normal soil: Dr. Keshav Baliram Hedgevar Udhyan, Ghatkopar, Mumbai

The Normal site is taken as the keeping in mind that there no dumping activity is being done in past years
and regular maintenance of soil is being done for gardening. Hence we are taking this site for comparing
all the test results from the other two dumping sides.

Site -2 : Kanjurmarg Dumping Ground, Kanjurmarg, Mumbai

22
This is our another site where dumping is being done for past few years, All the domestic waste of the
organization is been done here, hence fresh layers of dump can be obtained . This particularly will help us
in making an easy comparison of the test results in between the normal site and other sites of different
dumping conditions.

SITE -3 : Deonar Dumping Ground, Gowandi, Mumbai: Old Dumping site

This site lies in the Mumbai city where nearly all the waste is being dumped from past few decade .This
site is of great importance in making a healthy comparison of the test results.

23
 5. PROPERTIES OF SOIL TO BE TESTED

Permeability

Due to the existence of the inter-connected voids, soils are

permeable. The permeable soils will allow water flow from points of high energy to points of low energy.
Permeability is the parameter to characterize the ability of soil to transport water.
Permeability in fluid mechanics and the earth sciences (commonly symbolized as κ, or k) is a measure of
the ability of a porous material (often, a rock or unconsolidated material) to allow fluids to pass through
it.

Use of Permeability

Knowledge of the permeability properties of soil is necessary to:

Estimating the quantity of underground seepage ;
Solving problems involving pumping seepage water from construction excavation;
Stability analyses of earth structures and earth retaining walls subjected to seepage forces.

Shear strength (soil)

Shear strength is a term used in soil mechanics to describe the magnitude of the shear stress that a soil
can sustain. The shear resistance of soil is a result of friction and interlocking of particles, and possibly
cementation or bonding at particle contacts. Due to interlocking, particulate material may expand or
contract in volume as it is subject to shear strains. If soil expands its volume, the density of particles will
decrease and the strength will decrease; in this case, the peak strength would be followed by a reduction
of shear stress. The stress-strain relationship levels off when the material stops expanding or contracting,
and when interparticle bonds are broken. The theoretical state at which the shear
stress and density remain constant while the shear strain increases may be called the critical state, steady
state, or residual strength. The volume change behaviour and interparticle friction depend on the density
of the particles, the intergranular contact forces, and to a somewhat lesser extent, other factors such as the
rate of shearing and the direction of the shear stress. The average normal intergranular contact force per
unit area is called the effective stress.

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Two important theories of soil shear are the critical state theory and the steady state theory. There are key
differences between the critical state condition and the steady state condition and the resulting theory
corresponding to each of these conditions.

Shear Strength in Soils

The shear strength of a soil is its resistance to shearing stresses.
It is a measure of the soil resistance to deformation by continuous displacement of its individual soil
particles
Shear strength in soils depends primarily on interactions between particles
Shear failure occurs when the stresses between the particles are such that they slide or roll past each other
Soil derives its shear strength from two sources:
–Cohesion between particles (stress independent component)
Cementation between sand grains
Electrostatic attraction between clay particles
Frictional resistance between particles (stress dependent component)

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 6. EXPECTED CONCLUSION

Civil engineers build structures and the soil beneath these structures is loaded. This results in increase of
stresses resulting in strain leading to settlement of stratum. The settlement is due to decrease in volume of
soil mass. When water in the voids and soil particles are assumed as incompressible in a completely
saturated soil system then - reduction in volume takes place due to expulsion of water from the voids.
There will be rearrangement of soil particles in air voids created by the outflow of water from the voids.
This rearrangement reflects as a volume change leading to compression of saturated fine grained soil
resulting in settlement. The rate of volume change is related to the rate at which pore water moves out
which in turn depends on the permeability of soil. Therefore the deformation due to increase of stress
depends on the “Compressibility of soils” As Civil Engineers we need to provide answers for
1. Total settlement (volume change)
2. Time required for the settlement of compressible layer

The total settlement consists of three components

1. Immediate settlement.
2. Primary consolidation settlement
Secondary consolidation settlement (Creep settlement) St = Si + Sc + Ssc

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Soil Consistency

Soil consistency is defined as the relative ease with which a soil can be deformed use
the terms of soft, firm, or hard.

Consistency largely depends on soil minerals and the water content.

Atterberg limits are the limits of water content used to define soil behavior. The consistency of
soils according to Atterberg limits gives the following diagram.

Soil consistence provides a means of describing the degree and kind of cohesion and adhesion
between the soil particles as related to the resistance of the soil to deform or rupture.

Since the consistence varies with moisture content, the consistence can be described as dry
consistence, moist consistence, and wet consistence.

Consistence evaluation includes rupture resistance and stickiness.

The rupture resistance is a field measure of the ability of the soil to withstand an applied
stress or pressure as applied using the thumb and forefinger.

Soil consistency is defined as the relative ease with which a soil can be deformed use the terms
of soft, firm, or hard.

Consistency largely depends on soil minerals and the water content.

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Cohesion & Adhesion

Cohesion is the attraction of one water molecule to another resulting from hydrogen
bonding (water-water bond).

Adhesion is similar to cohesion except with adhesion involves the attraction of a water
molecule to a non-water molecule (water-solid bond).

When We Describe Consistency –

We Attempt to Describe the Following

• Engineering/Environmental
–Rupture Resistance –Moist and Dry Consistency
–Stickiness –Wet Consistency
–Plasticity-Wet Consistency
• Geophysical
–Manner and Type of Failure
–Penetration Resistance

Derived limits

The values of these limits are used in a number of ways. There is also a close relationship
between the limits and properties of a soil such as compressibility, permeability, and
strength. This is thought to be very useful because as limit determination is relatively simple,
it is more difficult to determine these other properties. Thus the Atterberg limits are not only
used to identify the soil's classification, but it allows for the use of empirical correlations for
some other engineering properties.

Liquidity index

The liquidity index (LI) is used for scaling the natural water content of a soil sample to the
limits. It can be calculated as a ratio of difference between natural water content, plastic
limit, and liquid limit:

LI=(LL-PL)
Where

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 W is the natural water content.

The effects of the water content on the strength of saturated remolded soils can be quantified
by the use of the liquidity index, LI: When the LI is 1, remolded soil is at the liquid limit and it
has an undrained shear strength of about 2 kPa. When the soil is at the plastic limit, the LI is 0
and the undrained shear strength is about 200 kPa.

Plasticity index

The plasticity index (PI) is a measure of the plasticity of a soil. The plasticity index is the size
of the range of water contents where the soil exhibits plastic properties. The PI is the difference
between the liquid limit and the plastic limit (PI = LL-PL). Soils with a high PI tend to be clay,
those with a lower PI tend to be silt, and those with a PI of 0 (non-plastic) tend to have little or
no silt or clay.
PI and their meanings
 0 - Nonplastic
 (1-5)- Slightly plastic
 (5-10) - Low plasticity
 (10-20) - Medium plasticity
 (20-40) - High plasticity
 >40 Very high plasticity

Density

Field density is used in calculating the stress in the soil due to its overburden pressure it is
needed in estimating the bearing capacity of soil foundation system, settlement of footing earth
pressures behind the retaining walls and embankments. Stability of natural slopes, dams,
embankments and cuts is checked with the help of density of those soils. It is the density that
controls the field compaction of soils. Permeability of soils depends upon its density.
Relative density of cohesionless soils is determined by knowing the dry density of soil in
natural, loosest and densest states. Void ratio, porosity and degree of saturation need the help
of density of soil. Core cutter method in particular, is suitable for soft to medium cohesive
soils, in which the cutter can be driven. It is not possible to drive the cutter into hard, boulder
or murrumy soils. In such case other methods are adopted.

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Specific gravity

Specific gravity of the soil grains is an important property and is used to determine the voids
ratio, porosity, and degree of saturation if density and water content are known.

Its value helps to some extent in identification and classification of solids. It gives an idea
about the stability of soil as a construction material; higher value of specific gravity gives more
strength for roads and foundation. It is used in comparing the soil particle size by means of
hydrometer analysis. It is also used in estimation of critical hydraulic gradient in soil when
sand boiling condition is being studied and in zero air void calculation in the compaction
theory of solids.

Its value ranges as follows:

i. Coarse grained soils: 2.6 to 2.7

ii. Fine grained soil: 2.7 to 2.8

iii. Organic soil: 2.3 to 2.5

Moisture content

9.1 Determination of Moisture Content

This test is performed to determine the water (moisture) content of soils. The water content is
the ratio, expressed as a percentage, of the mass of “pore” or “free” water in a given mass of
soil to the mass of the dry soil solids.

9.1.1 Standard Reference:

ASTM D 2216 - Standard Test Method for Laboratory Determination of Water (Moisture)
Content of Soil, Rock, and Soil-Aggregate Mixtures

9.1.2 Significance:

For many soils, the water content may be an extremely important index used for
establishing the relationship between the way a soil behaves and its properties.
The consistency of a fine-grained soil largely depends on its water content. The
water content is also used in expressing the phase relationships of air, water, and
solids in a given volume of soil.

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 7. REFERENCES

1. Soil Mechanics And Foundation Engineering – K.R.Arora

2. Soil mechanics and Foundation – Dr. B.C. Punmia
3. Soil Mechanics In Engineering Practice– Karl Terzaghi
4. Soil Mechanics and Foundation Engineering – Springer
5. Wikipedia.org
6. http://www.uic.edu/classes/cemm/cemmlab/Experiment%201-
Water%20Content.pdf
7. http://www.prbdb.gov.in/files/Quality%20Control%20Training/Tests%20
on%20Soils/Atterbergs%20Limit/Atterbergs%20Limits.pdf
8. http://virtual-labs.ac.in/labs/CEVL/CEVL02
SM/Data%20files/02%20Unit_Weight.pdf
9. http://elearning.vtu.ac.in/11/enotes/geotechengg/Unit6-SVD.pdf
10.http://www4.hcmut.edu.vn/~cnan/Principles%20of%20geotechnical%20e
ngineering%20(Fifth%20Edition,%20Das)/259-310.PDF
11.http://www.engineering.uiowa.edu/~swan/courses/53030/notes/consol1.pdf
12.http://www.engr.uconn.edu/~lanbo/G229Lect05042SoilMech1.pdf
13.http://www.engr.uconn.edu/~lanbo/CE240LectW111shearstrength1.pdf
14. http://www.engr.uconn.edu/~lanbo/CE240LectW093soilcompressibility3. pdf
15. http://www.engr.uconn.edu/~lanbo/CE240LectW043permeability1.pdf
16.http://www.ele.com/euro/index.php?option=com_docman&task=doc_do
wnload&gid=88 17.http://www3.nd.edu/~asimonet/CE20500/SPRING_2012/LECTURES_P
DF/Lecture15_Soils_03_20_2012.pdf
18.http://www.science.marshall.edu/niemann/GLY%20457/Eng%20Geo%2
0of%20Soils.pdf
19.http://www.engr.uconn.edu/~lanbo/CE240LectW031consistencyAtterberglinmits.pdf
20.Lab Manuals and Indian Standard Codes.
IS 2720 (PART III/sec 1)-1980 –Determination of specific Gravity IS 2720 (PART III/sec 2)-1980–
Determination of specific Gravity IS 2720 (sec 5)-1985 – Determination Of Liquid & Plastic LimitIS
2720 (sec 36)-1987 -Determination of Permeability
IS 9259-1979 Specification for Liquid Limit Apparatus For Soil

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