ABSTRACT
The current research investigated the influence of Cadmium (Cd2+) and Chromium (Cr6+) contaminated clayey liner amended with crosslinked biopolymer on the compressibility behavior. Load concentrations of 300 mg/kg and 500 mg/kg were selected for Cd2+ and Cr6+ for soil spiking. The proportion of chitosan to sodium alginate was fixed as 50:50 for 2% dosage. The tests were conducted on control samples (contaminated) and treated samples (contaminated and biopolymer treated (BP)). For the contaminated samples, the highest reduction was obtained for Cr6+ spiked samples owing to its higher valency, reduction in diffuse double layer, and accumulation over the clay surface. The addition of 2% crosslinked biopolymer further reduced the void ratio and compressibility index owing to the filler characteristics of biopolymer and possible interaction with metal ions. This study aids in understanding the efficacy of crosslinked biopolymer-treated clayey soil contaminated with heavy metals as a liner material.
