Use of cotton gin trash (CGT) to form a biological lagoon sealant

Because of large volumes of cotton gin trash (CGT) and limited options for correct disposal of CGT, a study was launched to find alternative uses for this material. The objective of this report was to explore the possibility of using CGT as a waste lagoon sealant. CGT was applied in 0, 5, and 10 cm layers in 10.15 cm ID acrylic columns with three replicates per treatment. A sandy loam soil was used as a base and as a top soil to hold the CGT in p lace. The columns were subjected to a constant head of filtered tap water. Static compaction was applied at day 7 and kneading compaction at day 12. T he columns were destroyed and concentrations of bound extracellular polysac charides were measured at day 15. A high correlation (R-2 = 0.95) between t otal EPS concentration and cumulative hydraulic conductivities was observed . The final average hydraulic conductivity of the columns was 2.2 x 10(-6) cm/s, 2.2 x 10-6 cm/s, 1.0 x 10(-5) cm/s for the 5 cm CGT layer, 10 cm CGT layer, and control columns, respectively. The 5 cm layer had lower hydrauli c conductivity and total pollutant loading than the 10 cm layer, suggesting an optimum layer thickness is less than 10 cm. The study suggested that CG T plus compactive effort has excellent potential for sealing waste lagoons. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.