Olivin geopolymer as a potential green sustainable dust control

Abstract

Alkali-activation materials (AAM) have been used to produce inorganic cements for over a century, as a means of valorizing wastes or industrial by-products derived from different commercial activities. Due to their potential benefits, research focused on its application as soil stabilizers. Among AAM, olivine was mentioned as the most influential one. Therefore, the current study reviews the potential application of olivine in geotechnical engineering by considering its application for sand movements mitigation due to wind erosion. However, in order to obtain the environmental aims, it is essential to use activators that were produced cleanly and sustainably in which two various activators have been used. The results of the present study indicated the unconfined compressive strength (UCS) increment of soil samples treated using NaOH compared to KOH by the rate of 47 to 60% after 28 days. Moreover, raising the percentage of olivine by the rate of 2, resulted in the UCS of samples to be increased by more than 70%, while all the treated samples showed 100% protection to wind erosion. Hence, due to the regulations of the Department of the Environment by minimum strength of the stabilizers to be more than 200 kPa, the application of olivine was recommended to combat wind erosion.