EXPERIMENTAL INVESTIGATION OF LOCAL CLAYS AND CLAY SCHEMES AS LINERS FOR SOLAR PONDS

This paper investigates the potential of using local clays and locally available materials as lining materials for solar ponds. Results for the liquid limit, the plastic limit, the plasticity index and the perm eability were obtained for clays obtained from live regions in Jordan, namely Amman. Irbid, the Dead Sea, Karak and Tafilah. The results ind icate that Amman clays have the lowest permeability values, making the m a potential candidate as lining materials for solar ponds in Jordan. This paper also looks at various lining schemes for solar ponds, made of local clays and the other materials. The schemes were tested using saline water from the Dead Sea. It was found that an effective cheap lining scheme may consist of combinations of compacted local clay and locally manufactured low density polyethylene film sandwiched between the clay.