Preliminary Study on Remediation of Contaminated Clay Soil Using Cement and Sugarcane Bagasse

Abstract

Disposals of agricultural waste in a large volume have an extremely harmful effect on the environment if they are ineffectively treated. To solve this, several appropriate methods has been identified to produce new recycling technique of utilizing the agricultural waste. In this study, the feasibility of using sugarcane bagasse (SCB) as partial replacement binder with cement to stabilized and solidified (S/S) the contaminated soil are investigated. This paper focused on the strength and the leaching characteristic of lead (Pb) contaminated soil treated with SCB and cement. Two tests, namely the Unconfined Compressive Strength (UCS) test and Toxicity Characteristic Leaching Procedure (TCLP) were employed to measure the strength and leaching performance of S/S samples. The experimental results demonstrated that the UCS at 28 days was in a range of 0.82 to 5.66 MPa for sample containing cement and SCB compare to 0.29 MPa of control mix at the same age. The concentration of Pb in the leachates was within the limits specified by US EPA as low as 2.11 mg/L in 28 days. This shows that, the quality of S/S sample containing cement and SCB significantly improve the strength development as well as effectively in reducing the Pb leachability. Based on the finding, SCB could be useful as cheaper, easy available alternatives binder for the treatment of contaminated soil.