Archives

Geosynthetics and coal combustion residuals

October 1st, 2018

According to the World Bank Group, in 2015 coal produced 41% of the world’s energy and about 34% of the energy production in the United States. While global warming and pollution are serious challenges according to most scientific evidence, and coal burning is cited as one cause of both, there are many staunch advocates of […]

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Minnesota Pollution Control Agency updates geosynthetic liner guidelines for stormwater management

August 30th, 2018

The Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (Minnesota PCA) revised and released new geosynthetic liner guidelines for stormwater management in August. The guidelines specify where liners are required and where liners are recommended, liner specifications (e.g., HDPE, GCL, PVC), and how to select an appropriate liner. “Liners are designed to limit infiltration of water from a stormwater […]

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New ASTM International standard will help in construction with GCLs

August 2nd, 2018

A newly released ASTM International standard will help those who construct and install geosynthetic clay liners (GCLs), which are used to help with containment for: landfills coal combustion residual storage cells mining operations remediation and environmental protection projects The new standard (D8204) focuses on evaluating both best practices as well as possible negative impacts of […]

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Geosynthetics use expands in mining and ore processing

August 1st, 2018

The estimated value of nonfuel mining of raw materials in the United States alone totaled $75.2 billion in 2017, according to an annual report by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS). Everything from aluminum to zinc falls into this massive category, but that dollar figure is dwarfed by the USGS’s estimate in that same report of […]

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Testing a new method for mining-waste storage using polymer-enhanced geosynthetic clay liners

July 31st, 2018

Geosynthetic clay liners (GCL) and polymer-modified geosynthetic clay liners (PMG) are gaining favor for use in industrial waste disposal and ore-processing applications (Athanassopoulos et al. 2015, Donovan et al. 2016a, Donovan et al. 2016b). The GCL or PMG can be a component of a composite liner system that will allow for increased performance (relative to […]

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QA/QC for geosynthetics in waste containment is focus of GSI course

June 26th, 2018

The Geosynthetic Institute (GSI) will host an online course entitled “Course 1: Quality Assurance/Quality Control of Geosynthetics in Waste Containment Facilities,” Oct. 16–18, 2018, from 11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. and from 2 p.m. to 3:30 p.m. EDT each day. Robert M. Koerner and George Koerner will teach the course. This is the first GSI […]

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GeoDallas Watch: 2018 GeoDallas schedule announced

June 1st, 2018

June World Environmental & Water Resources Congress June 3–7 | Minneapolis, Minn. Hosted by the Environmental & Water Resources Institute (EWRI) of the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE), the World Environmental & Water Resources Congress brings together the top environmental and water resources infrastructure professionals. Topics include erosion and sediment control, numerical modeling, hydraulic […]

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GMA and FGI to host part 2 of a webinar on the stability of geosynthetic lined slopes

May 15th, 2018

The Geosynthetic Materials Association (GMA), in collaboration with the Fabricated Geomembrane Institute (FGI), will present the second of this two-part, free webinar series on May 31, 2018, at 12:00 p.m. EDT. The webinar will discuss the importance of geosynthetic interface strengths on slope stability, when to use peak and residual geosynthetic interface strengths, how to […]

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Global Synthetics’ Bentofix GCL safeguards Australian bay

December 20th, 2017

Situated on the southern coastline of the Broome Peninsula in Western Australia, the southern wastewater facility of Water Corporation, which supplies water, wastewater and drainage services in Western Australia, has been under the spotlight in recent years following reports of contamination of the sensitive Yawuru Nagulagun/Roebuck Bay Marine Park. Outbreaks of blue-green algae in the […]

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Part 2: The regulation of CCR in the United States: Geosynthetics and barriers

October 1st, 2017

As discussed in Part 1 of “The Regulation of CCR in the United States,” for the first time in decades, nationwide regulation of CCR (coal combustion residuals) surface impoundments expands the regulated use of geosynthetic materials. While the CCR Rule (2015) allows continued operation of existing CCR surface impoundments, it provides criteria for the disposition […]

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