Sorption and diffusion of bisphenol-A (BPA) through a geosynthetic clay liner (GCL)

Partitioning of bisphenol A (BPA) to geotextile (GTX), and geosynthetic clay liner (GCL) is investigated. BPA distribution coefficients range from 3.3 to 5.0 mL/g for the geotextile component of the GCL and 10–16 mL/g for the entire GCL. The diffusion of BPA through the GCL is also investigated and the diffusion coefficient is estimated to be 1.5 × 10−10 m2/s at a bulk void ratio of 4.4. The estimated parameters are used to study the potential mass transfer of BPA through a composite liner of a municipal solid waste landfill for a number of scenarios. The results show that HDPE geomembrane is an excellent diffusive barrier for BPA but the advective transfer of BPA through the composite liner needs to be limited by minimizing the number of holes and length of the wrinkles in the geomembrane.