The PVC geomembrane liner is a flexible thermoplastic waterproofing geomembrane composed of vinyl compounds, plasticizers, and stabilizers. It is manufactured through calendaring or extrusion processes, resulting in a highly flexible and cost-effective non-reinforced material. It is the ideal material for tailings treatment project.
1. What is A PVC geomembrane liner?
A PVC geomembrane liner is a type of impermeable sheet made from polyvinyl chloride (PVC), a synthetic plastic polymer. It is commonly used in environmental and civil engineering projects to control fluid movement, prevent leakage, and provide containment. PVC geomembrane liners offer several key features and find applications in various fields:
1.1 Material Composition
PVC geomembranes are flexible and durable, chosen for their resistance to chemicals, UV degradation, and environmental stress cracking.
1.2 Waterproofing
They are widely used for waterproofing purposes in reservoirs, ponds, and canals to prevent water seepage and protect the surrounding environment.
1.3 Waste Containment
PVC geomembranes are employed in landfills and waste containment sites to prevent the migration of leachate into the soil and groundwater.
1.4 Mining Applications
They line tailings ponds and storage facilities in the mining industry, containing potentially harmful substances and preventing their release.
1.5 Aquaculture
PVC geomembranes create a waterproof barrier in aquaculture ponds and tanks, ensuring efficient water management and preventing water source contamination.
1.6 Decorative Ponds and Lakes
They are used in landscaping projects to create durable and watertight decorative ponds and lakes.
1.7 Secondary Containment
PVC geomembranes provide secondary containment in industrial settings, preventing the release of hazardous materials in case of leaks or spills.
2. Background of PVC Geomembrane Liner for Tailings Seepage in South Africa
Tailings ponds are the most “stressed” of any mining project. Tailings are the finished product left behind after a mineral solution and are used for the proper accumulation of tailings material, usually for the construction of tailings DAMS or ponds. But tailings usually contain small amounts of sulphide, and it is the synthesis and release of this sulphide that produces metals under acidic conditions, but the sulphide poses a great risk to the situation. In the anti-seepage system of tailings dam or tailings pond, the use of impervious geomembrane can prevent the maintenance and purification of soil and groundwater. The following factors should be considered when the pvc geomembrane is selected for tailings dam project: low permeability, high tear resistance and puncture resistance, chemical corrosion resistance, it can adapt to temperature changes, durability, resistance to purple internal strength.
Impermeable pvc geomembrane has high tensile mechanical resistance, its excellent elasticity and deformation ability make it very suitable for expansion or contraction of the base surface, can effectively overcome the uneven settlement of the base surface, high water vapor permeability coefficient. Chemical stability – Impermeable membrane has excellent chemical stability, is used in sewage treatment, chemical reaction ponds, landfill. High and low temperature resistance, asphalt, oil and tar resistance, acid, alkali, salt and other 80 kinds of strong acid and alkali chemical medium corrosion. Aging resistance – impervious pvc geomembrane has anti-aging, anti-ultraviolet, anti-decomposition ability, can be exposed to use, the service life of the material up to 50-70 years, to provide a good material guarantee for environmental impervious.
3. What Is The Solution of PVC Geomembrane for Tailings Seepage Project
PVC geomembrane was chosen for the tailings seepage project in South Africa due to several reasons. Firstly, PVC geomembrane is known for its excellent chemical resistance, making it suitable for containing and preventing the seepage of potentially hazardous substances present in tailings. This ensures the protection of the environment and nearby water sources.
Secondly, PVC geomembrane offers high tensile strength and puncture resistance, providing durability and long-term performance in demanding conditions. This is crucial in a tailings project where the geomembrane needs to withstand the weight and pressure of the stored materials.
Additionally, PVC geomembrane is relatively easy to install and has good flexibility, allowing for efficient and cost-effective installation in large-scale projects like tailings containment.
By providing the customer in South Africa with a 2mm PVC geomembrane sample, along with test reports and necessary certifications, our company demonstrated the quality and reliability of our product. This, combined with competitive pricing, resulted in winning the project and securing an initial purchase volume of 150,000 square meters.
Overall, the selection of PVC geomembrane for the tailings seepage project in South Africa was based on its chemical resistance, strength, ease of installation, and our ability to provide comprehensive support to meet the project requirements.
4. What Are Advantages of PVC Geomembrane Liner?
- Geomembrane PVC liner is a kind of flexible waterproof material, with high permeability coefficient.
- PVC Geomembrane has good heat resistance and cold resistance, its use of ambient temperature is low 110℃, high temperature -70℃.
- Geomembrane PVC liner has good chemical stability.
- PVC geomembrane has high tensile strength, so that it has a high tensile strength to meet the needs of high standard engineering projects.
- PVC geomembrane has strong weather resistance, has strong anti-aging performance.
- PVC geomembrane has strong tensile strength and elongation at break, so that PVC geomembrane can be used in a variety of different harsh geological and climatic conditions. Adapt to geological uneven settlement of strong stress.
PVC geomembrane in the production process, quality inspection personnel according to the batch of timely stop sampling of PVC Geomembrane, testing items include the following three aspects:
- The appearance of PVC geomembrane, physical sensitivity including: unit area quality determination, amplitude determination, thickness determination.
- The mechanical properties of PVC geomembrane include wide strip tensile test, trapezoidal tearing strength test, CBR top breaking strength test, falling cone test, etc.
- The hydraulic performance test of PVC geomembrane includes vertical permeability test, hydrostatic pressure test, etc
5. How Are PVC Geomembrane Installation Process for Tailings Pond?
5.1 PVC Geomembrane preparation before Installtion
(1) Level the site of the ground, make its surface smooth, compact, no bump on the surface of the ground, no big stones, iron wire steel wire and other hard things, to prevent punctured impermeable film;
(2) A 40*40 anchorage ditch is dug around the landfill to prepare for the anchorage of the impermeable film on both sides of the landfill.
5.2 PVC geomembrane Installtion process
(1) The PVC geomembrane coil to be laid is flattened in the open space and cut into the required shape according to the predetermined scheme;
(2) In the process of film laying to avoid artificial damage, should be smooth, solid, reduce wrinkles as far as possible, reasonable choice of laying direction, as far as possible to reduce joint force, reasonable layout of each piece of material position, strive to joint as little as possible;
(3) Flat on the ground of membrane, the reasonable way of calculation, the selection of PVC geomembrane, to reduce the number of welding seam and save material for the standard, in the process of membrane to avoid man-made damage, adjacent pvc Geomembrane welding seam dislocation according to the “ding” glyph laid, moreover membrane note reserved unearthed membrane deformation expansion amount, general reserve capacity by 1% to 4%, According to the actual situation of the specific site, in order to prevent the seepage film from being torn by pressure when the foundation is deformed;
(4) All exposed PVC geomembrane must be immediately compressed with sandbags or other heavy weights to prevent the pvc geomembranes from being blown up by the wind or pulled out of the surrounding anchorage ditch.
5.3 Welding of Geomembrane PVC liner
The climatic conditions required for the PVC Geomembrane welding and suturing are atmospheric temperature between 4-40℃; Dry conditions, especially the absence of precipitation or other excess moisture such as fog or dew; The wind speed is no more than force 4 per hour.
6. Attention for Geomembrane PVC Liner Construction Matters for Tailings Ponds
6.1 Matters needing attention of pvc liner construction personnel
(1) before laying PVC geomembrane, the laying surface should meet the design requirements and meet the quality and safety requirements;
(2) the material and quality of geomemetic electrode should meet the design requirements and relevant standards;
(3) Personnel unrelated to the construction shall not enter the construction site;
(4) All personnel entering the geomembrane installation site shall wear an entry card, wear shoes without damage to the pvc Geomembrane, and no one shall smoke when entering the site;
(5) In handling PVC geomembrane, all tools must be handled gently, not thrown or replay, hot tools and pvc Geomembrane contact is strictly prohibited.
(6) PVC geomembrane construction must be completed to pay attention to the protection of finished products;
(7) In the process of loading and unloading of PVC geomembrane, handling shall not use any equipment that may cause mechanical damage to the material, pull, lift or roll up, do not allow some uncontrolled expansion method, gently take gently.
6.2 Precautions for welding PVC geomembrane
In the welding process of PVC geomembrane, in order to prevent the PVC geomembrane from being blown up by strong winds after laying, it is advanced successively by laying and welding compaction. Before welding, the H PVC geomembrane reserved lap welding surface is wiped clean; The roller of the welding film machine should be wiped clean, and the sample welding equipment can be adjusted before welding. When welding, always keep the welding machine moving at a uniform speed. Weld inspection test shall be carried out after the weld is cooled until the weld meets the requirements.
(7) Non-destructive tests should be carried out on each repair site and records should be made.
6.3 Repair defects and damage
In the process of PVC geomembrane laying, any defective or damaged PVC geomembrane to non-destructive experiment should be repaired, so as not to affect the overall anti-seepage effect.
(1) Small holes should be repaired by extrusion welding. If the holes are larger than 6mm, patches should be made;
(2) The peel should be patched. If the peel has a sharp end on the slope, it should be cut into a circle before patching;
(3) The surface of the geomembrane pvc liner that needs to be patched should be repaired, polished and cleaned in advance;
(4) the folded Geomembrane pvc liner should be re-laid to patch the welding position should be parallel to the slope, not cross;
(5) The patch should be composed of the same PVC geomembrane and cut into circular or elliptical shapes, and its size should exceed the defect edge by at least 15cm;
(6) All patches should be of the same thickness as the original PVC geomembrane, and almost all patches should be flattened with a sander at the top edge before being placed on the pvc geomembrane, and all surfaces should be kept clean and dry during repair.
6.4 PVC geomembrane fixation and protection
During the PVC geomembrane construction of tailings pond, anchoring should be carried out around, anchoring ditch should be used for edge sealing. Anchoring ditch should be ditched 40cm away from the construction plane, 40cm wide and 40cm deep, and the PVC geomembrane should be pulled into the ditch into u-shaped, and the ditch should be fixed with sandbags or concrete structure. At the same time, in order to strengthen the protection of PVC geomembrane and make its service life long, the following measures are generally taken for protection:
(1) spread a layer of geotextile on the paved film to protect, and then spread a layer of sand or soil on the geotextile to secondary protection; Lay a fine layer of soil on top of the film or make a layer of concrete with barbed wire and beautify it.
(2) PVC geomembrane can be constructed in a wet environment, but should avoid soaking in water.
(3) if the ground has moisture, to do a good job of drainage measures after laying, in order to prevent the PVC geomembrane sticky water can not be welded.
(4) Loading and unloading according to the principle of careful handling, strictly prohibit throwing, dragging, rolling damage.
(5) PVC liner should be stored in a cool and dry place when not in use, and exposure to sunlight and rain are strictly prohibited.
7. About GEOSINCERE
GEOSINCERE has been dedicated to manufacturing geomembrane and geosynthetics products and solutions to worldwide customers since its foundation in 2007. Our main innovative, high quality products include geotextiles, geomembranes, geogrids, geocells, geosynthetic clay liners, and drainage boards, etc al.
GEOSINCERE offers both high quality geosynthetic products but also professional design and installation service. OEM, ODM, custom development and fabrication are also available. If you have any questions or inquiries, please contact us.
