Compaction for Kaolin Clay using Molasses, Acetic Acid and Calcium Oxide

Abstract

Ground improvement using lime or cement is popular because of the speed, adaptability, and profitability of this method. However, pollution due to alkaline water from lime or hexavalent chromium from cement may occur as a result. To avoid these issues, some studies have been carried out in India and a few African countries on the use of molasses for the improvement of clays. The increase in mechanical strength was demonstrated using the unconfined compressive strength or California Bearing Ratio (CBR) value. However, a sufficient value for ground improvement has not been achieved yet. In the present study, acetic acid and calcium oxide were added into molasses solution to increase the mechanical properties of clay specimens. Throughout the curing period, air temperature was set at 25°C and the specimens were placed in a drying furnace. 1, 3, 7 and 28 days were chosen as the curing periods. The Brazilian test was used to obtain the tensile strength value for evaluation of the mechanical properties of the specimens. The tensile strength obtained through this procedure was twice that than from specimens with distilled water and 1.5 times that from specimens treated with a 10% molasses solution. Furthermore, the dry density achieved through this procedure was larger than that of specimens with distilled water because of the surface activity of molasses. At the same time, it was shown that the pH value of Kaolin clay treated with the solution proposed in this study is in the range of weak acidity. Therefore, the solution proposed in this study is expected not only improvement in mechanical properties of Kaolin clay but also little load to vegetation in ground improvement.