6.Comparison of Percolation Losses of Guar gum and Carboxymethylcellulose (CMC) polymer treated and untreated soils Under Laboratory Conditions |
Asima Jillani and Akhilesh Kumar |
Abstract: The present study was carried out to compare percolation losses of soil treated with Guar gum and Carboxymethylcellulose (CMC) polymer at different concentrations with untreated soil under laboratory conditions. These polymers are water soluble, physiologically inert, biodegradable, economical, do not produce any harmful effect when applied to the soil, and easily available materials were applied in four different concentrations i.e., 0.01%, 0.025%, 0.05% and 0.1% separately by weight of water to the soil columns in four mild steel cylinders supported by iron frame. The cylinders have approximately 60 cm depth, 30 cm diameter and 16 gauge thickness having conical bottom with opening. These cylinders were placed vertically on a platform supported with frames made of Engle iron, and measuring conical flasks were kept just below the small hallow rod at bottom of each cylinder to collect the percolated water. The data was collected for control and polymer treated soils in different concentrated solution of polymers applied in the soil column after 24 hours. The readings were noted after every 15 minutes just after pouring the water in each cylinder. The recorded observations indicated in general, that polymer treatment to the soils resulted in reduced percolation loss. The efficacy of polymer treatment to reduce percolation loss in soil were found to be better at higher concentration. Keywords: Carboxymethylcellulose polymer, Guar gum polymer, percolation loss, soil column, soil treatment |