Drying pad with polymer-agumented soil barrier

Abstract

A drying pad and a method for constructing a drying pad for a wet waste, of which the method includes adding a polymer additive to a soil to create a polymer-augmented soil, and spreading the polymer-augmented soil over a base soil to create drying pad comprising a polymer-augmented soil layer on top of the base soil. The polymer-augmented soil is configured to have the wet waste deposited thereon so that the wet waste dries on top of the polymer-augmented soil layer without leaching into the base soil and produces a dried waste for transfer to a disposal cell. The method also includes removing the polymer-augmented soil layer from the base soil after the dried waste is transferred to the disposal cell.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A method for constructing a drying pad for a wet waste, the method comprising:
 adding a polymer additive to a soil to create a polymer-augmented soil;   spreading the polymer-augmented soil over a base soil to create drying pad comprising a polymer-augmented soil layer on top of the base soil, wherein the polymer-augmented soil is configured to have the wet waste deposited thereon so that the wet waste dries on top of the polymer-augmented soil layer without leaching into the base soil and produces a dried waste for transfer to a disposal cell; and   removing the polymer-augmented soil layer from the base soil after the dried waste is transferred to the disposal cell.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 selecting an area proximal to the disposal cell for the drying pad; and   loosening a layer of soil in the area selected for the drying pad, wherein the polymer additive is added to the loosened layer of soil in the area to create the drying pad, and wherein the wet waste is deposited in the area of the drying pad.   
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 2 , wherein the area of the drying pad is at least one acre in size. 
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the polymer-augmented soil is spread directly on the base soil, and wherein the polymer-augmented soil is harder and less permeable than the base soil. 
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein loosening the layer of soil comprises tilling the base soil using earth-moving equipment. 
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising transferring the polymer-augmented soil layer to the disposal cell after removing the polymer-augmented soil layer. 
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein adding the polymer additive to the soil comprises spreading a mixture of the polymer additive and a solvent on the soil, and working the polymer additive into the soil using ground-moving equipment. 
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein depositing the wet waste on the polymer-augmented soil layer comprises depositing the wet waste directly on the polymer-augmented soil layer, without any other layers of soil, clay, or geosynthetic materials therebetween. 
     
     
         9 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 sampling the soil prior to adding the polymer additive; and   determining a depth for the polymer-augmented soil layer and amount of polymer additive to add to the soil to reach a predetermined permeability for the layer, based in part on the sampled soil.   
     
     
         10 . The method of  claim 9 , wherein the predetermined permeability is about 1×10 −7  cm/s. 
     
     
         11 . The method of  claim 9 , wherein determining the depth and the amount of polymer additive further comprises determining the amount of polymer additive to add to reach a predetermined hardness for the layer of soil. 
     
     
         12 . The method of  claim 11 , wherein the predetermined hardness is about 600 psi. 
     
     
         13 . A drying pad for a landfill, comprising:
 a base soil layer; and   a polymer-augmented soil layer disposed on top of the base soil layer, wherein the polymer-augmented soil layer includes a polymer additive, and is harder and less permeable than the base soil layer.   
     
     
         14 . The drying pad of  claim 13 , wherein the polymer-augmented soil layer is configured to receive a wet waste directly thereon. 
     
     
         15 . The drying pad of  claim 14 , wherein the polymer-augmented soil layer is configured to be removed after the wet waste is dried thereon. 
     
     
         16 . The drying pad of  claim 15 , wherein the drying pad does not include a sacrificial soil layer positioned between the wet waste and the polymer-augmented soil layer. 
     
     
         17 . The drying pad of  claim 13 , wherein the polymer-augmented soil layer has a hardness of about 600 psi. 
     
     
         18 . The drying pad of  claim 13 , wherein the polymer-augmented soil layer has a permeability of at most about 1×10 −7  cm/s. 
     
     
         19 . A method for drying a wet waste in preparation for disposal in a landfill, the method comprising:
 selecting an area proximal to a disposal cell for a drying pad;   loosening a layer of soil in the area selected for the drying pad;   adding a polymer additive to the loosened soil to create a polymer-augmented soil;   spreading and compacting the polymer-augmented soil on a base soil to create a polymer-augmented soil layer;   curing the polymer-augmented soil layer;   depositing the wet waste directly on the cured polymer-augmented soil layer so that the wet waste dries on top of the polymer-augmented soil layer and produces a dried waste;   after the wet waste dries to produce the dried waste, transferring the dried waste to the disposal cell;   removing the polymer-augmented soil layer from the base soil after transferring the dried waste to the disposal cell; and   transferring the polymer-augmented soil layer to the disposal cell after removing the polymer-augmented soil layer from the base soil.   
     
     
         20 . The method of  claim 19 , wherein:
 the area of the drying pad is at least one acre in size; and   the polymer-augmented soil is positioned directly on the base soil to form the polymer-augmented soil layer, and wherein the polymer-augmented soil layer is harder and less permeable than the base soil, the polymer-augmented soil having g a hardness of between about 600 psi and about 1000 psi and a permeability of between about 1×10 −8  cm/s and about 1×10 −7  cm/s.