Immobilization Of Dredge Material As Partial Substitute For The Production Of Mortar

Abstract

Dredged material is composed of soil or sediment that may contain inorganic or organic pollutants such as heavy metals, volatile organic compounds, and persistent organic pollutants. This material is an environmental concern due to the considerable amount of contaminants it may carry. This contaminated dredged material can be used as a partial substitute for sand in mortar mix. Based on the characterization of the dredged material, it contains organic and inorganic compounds and heavy metals such as cadmium, chromium, and lead. Moreover, XRF and XRD analyses indicate the presence of quartz, iron, and silicon dioxide. Toxicity Characterization Leaching Procedure (TCLP) test shows that heavy metals from the dredged material can leach out into the environment if not treated or disposed of properly. Furthermore, particle size distribution showed that the material is in the range of clay to sandy making it a good substitute for sand. Through the immobilization technique, an optimized mortar mixture was determined. After 28 days of curing time, the optimum mortar mix was 10% dredge material and 90% sand by weight with a compressive strength of 17.6 MPa. Likewise, after immobilization, TCLP results show that the leachability of the mortar mix is below the standard limit set.

Keywords

• immobilization
• dredge material
• mortar
• tclp