A circular economy approach for geotextile reuse following lake water filtration

¹ Concordia University, Canada
² Titan Environmental Containment Ltd., Canada

^* Corresponding author: mulligan@civil.concordia.ca

Abstract

Eutrophication in lake systems is intensifying. To reduce this possible scenario, a method for suspended solids and associated nutrient removal by a novel on-site remediation has been investigated, using nonwoven geotextiles as filter media. These procedures generate clogged geotextile layers with captured suspended solids on them. To become more sustainable, circular economy principles were employed, more precisely reuse. Thus, this investigation aims to assess the potential reuse strategies by washing clogged layers and determining their possible reuse. The washing method was pressurized water (i.e., using a gardening pump sprayer). Preliminary results have shown the efficiency of the washing method in removing visible geotextile (non-woven) clogging, with permeate flow rates reaching values close to the initial process values. The geotextile apparent opening size increased by an order of 20%. Also, no geotextile fibre disruption was observed by scanning electron microscope (SEM) imagery, indicating its possible reuse. The dilute liquid waste preliminary findings showed high concentrations of some metals such as manganese, (112.72 μg/L) and zinc (88.12 μg/L) in addition to phosphorus (120.18 μg/L) which requires additional studies. The washed geotextile leaching test did not indicate any contaminants in the permeate which would enable geotextile layer reuse for lake water filtration.