Geofabrics Australia has opened a $2.4 million Geosynthetic Centre of Excellence in Molendinar, south Queensland. Its primary purpose is testing the performance of lining products for landfills and mining applications against specific liquors. Technical manager Warren Hornsey said conditions can vary dramatically between sites, and the facility will help ensure users – and regulators - have full confidence the lining system used is up to the task.

Geofabrics MD Brendan Swifte said the privately funded centre is part of a $6 million investment in R&D across the business. The “world class” laboratory was developed in consultation with groups including Monash University and the University of SA, and will “improve our understanding of geosynthetics and their performance in critical applications”.

“This was driven by the Australian engineering industry searching for answers to questions relating to geosynthetic performance that were not able to be tested in the traditional quality assurance laboratories,” said Swifte.

Hornsey told Inside Waste the facility will be especially useful for developing products better able to “deal with extreme conditions,” such as encountered when dealing with landfill leachate or minesite leachate.

Conditions such as high pH can degrade liners, potentially causing them to fail. The disastrous environmental impacts this could have makes it “critical” for project managers to have a very good handle on exactly what sort of conditions the liner will be exposed to, and to ensure the lining system is suited to the application.

Testing potential products against actual samples, such as leachate from an existing landfill cell, will giver users – as well as regulators and the wider community - more confidence that the lining system will perform as required.

“In the past, we had to export some testing to specialist laboratories in the US, which was expensive, slow and difficult because we had to export hazardous liquors,” Swifte said.

“The [center] means we can work locally with clients who want to develop responsible, evidence-based solutions for their particular sites. That means better outcomes for our customers, and the environment.”

The facility will be open to regulators, consulting engineers, contractors and academics to carry out application based research and testing to develop site-specific solutions. There will initially be no cost for using the facilities, although this will be reviewed as the company gets a better handle on how many users it attracts.

The facility houses a host of technical equipment that is the first of its kind in Australia, including a 300x300mm shear box, transmissivity apparatus and high-pressure liner testing apparatus.

It will soon offer a geosynthetic clay liner overlap apparatus, and is equipped with flexible wall permeameters for use with aggressive liquors, 50kN Instron Tensile apparatus, large volume screw compressor, dropcone apparatus, microscope and UV equipment.

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