International Journal of Emerging Technology and Advanced Engineering
Website: www.ijetae.com (ISSN 2250-2459, ISO 9001:2008 Certified Journal, Volume 5, Issue 2, February 2015)
A Study of Paper Mill Lime Sludge for Stabilization of
Village Road Sub-Base
Dr. Dilip Kumar Talukdar1
1
Lecturer (Selection Grade), Civil Engineering Department, Nowgong Polytechnic, Nagaon, Assam, India,
Abstract-- This study has been carried out to study the
possibility of use of paper mill waste for stabilization of
village road sub-base. Some physical properties of soil
collected from three different sites of Assam, India were
determined in the laboratory. The properties investigated
are particle size distribution, Atterberg limits (liquid limit,
plastic limit and plasticity index), compaction properties
(optimum moisture content and maximum dry density),
California bearing ratio value and swelling properties (free
swell index and differential free swell index) These are then
mixed with paper mill lime sludge collected from Jagiroad
Paper Mill, Jagiroad, Assam, India in different proportions
and the physical properties of treated soils were
determined. The Atterberg limit tests indicated that it was
possible to decrease liquid limit and increase the plastic
limit and plasticity index values of soil in addition of lime
mud in the mixture. Depending on lime mud content,
optimum moisture content increased and maximum dry
density was decreased depending on soil type. Addition of
lime mud affected positively to California bearing ratio
depending on the type of soil. The village roads which get
deformed and muddy during rainy season could be
stabilized and maintained by using lime mud waste.
Keywords-- Lime mud, village road, sub-base, treated
soils, California bearing ratio,
I. INTRODUCTION
Village roads in India are generally earth roads
constructed by using soil available in the vicinity of the
roads. Paving of all the roads are also not possible due to
heavy cost. Earth roads are generally dusty and form ruts
quickly thereby destroying the roads crown [1]. The
village roads in Assam, India is always in a deplorable
condition due to lack of improvement of the road
materials. Due to weather condition and unsuitable
construction techniques the untreated village roads are
easily deformed and become muddy in rainy season and
dusty in dry weather. In a developing country like India,
soil stabilization methods using local available materials
have considerable scope in reducing the construction cost
of roads. But the stabilization technique should be
simple, lowest, labour-intensive and decentralized.
Calcium chloride when used to treat the earth roads keep
them slightly damp by absorbing moisture from the
air [1].
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The management of wastes, particularly industrial
waste, in an economically and environmentally
acceptable manner is one of the most critical issues
facing modern industry, mainly due to the increased
difficulties in properly locating disposal works and
complying with even more stringent requirements
imposed by legislation [2]. Best available techniques for
reducing waste is to minimize the generation of solid
waste and/or reuse these materials, wherever practicable.
Although land filling is an alternative of waste disposal,
concern has risen over the amount and quality of future
landfill space. Landfills are becoming difficult because of
more stringent regulations, diminishing land availability
and public opposition. In recent years, researchers from
many fields have attempted to solve the problems posed
by industrial wastes.
The pulp and paper industry is one of the most
pollution sources discharging a variety of gaseous, liquid
and solid wastes into the environment. Waste handling is
a concern in pulp and paper mills. Lime mud is a by-
product relatively free of any contaminants produced in
pulp mills as part of the process that turns wood chips
into pulp for paper [3].Paper mill lime may also contain
some hydrated lime (calcium hydroxide) but it also
contains lots of water. Thus, many paper mills refer to
this byproduct as "lime mud." It is very difficult to dry
because of the tiny particle size of the suspended lime.
Many paper mills have huge landfills full of this stuff.
However, some mills have been successful in removing
much of the water and making their byproduct lime
available as an alternative soil liming material [4].
Nagaon Paper Mill (NPM) is one of the important
paper mills under Hindustan Paper Corporation Limited,
India, having ISO 14001:2004, Environmental
Management System certification by Det Norske Veritas
AS (DNV), The Netherlands. It produces 1,00,000 tonnes
of paper annually. It is situated by the side of National
Highway NH 37 at Jagiroad, Assam, India. Lime sludge
is on of the main solid waste generated by the mill. The
NPM generates about 448 tones (NEERI, 1990) of lime
sludge per day as solid waste. The generated lime sludge
has been disposed to a nearby low-lying area of the paper
mill. The lime sludge contains huge amount of Calcium
Carbonate [5].
 International Journal of Emerging Technology and Advanced Engineering
Website: www.ijetae.com (ISSN 2250-2459, ISO 9001:2008 Certified Journal, Volume 5, Issue 2, February 2015)
Nagaon Paper Mill produces a considerable amount of
lime sludge (main constituents: 78.60% CaCO3, 13.70%
SiO2, 1.80% CaO, 1.20% NaOH) from the causticizing
plant [6]. Lime sludge is burnt in the Rotary Lime Kiln
and re-used in the process and the dumped lime sludge is
allowed to lift in a systematic manner to local SSI units
and unemployed youth [7]. The solid waste disposal
system of Nagaon paper mill, Jagiroad,Assam is one of
the major problem in the Jagiroad area [8]. Land filling
of lime sludge of Nagaon paper mill is still a great
problem as it is lying by the side of NH 37. In recent
years, researchers from many fields have attempted to
solve the problems posed by industrial wastes. Recent
projects illustrated that successful waste utilization could
result in considerable saving in construction costs
(Cokca, 1999) [9].
Village roads are generally low cost roads and are the
life line of village transport. These roads are made of
earth and they become dusty and form ruts quickly and
thereby destroy the road crown. Maintaining and/or
stabilization of the village roads which are the only
means of road transport of the villagers could be a novel
alternative way of lime mud disposal. The pulp mill
cooks wood chips with sodium hydroxide to extract the
wood fiber used to make paper from the lignin that binds
the wood together. It has been reported that, during this
process, sodium hydroxide is converted to sodium
carbonate. The pulp mill than adds calcium oxide, also
known as quicklime, to convert the sodium carbonate
back to sodium hydroxide in order to use it again. In the
process, calcium carbonate is formed and calcium
carbonate is the major component of lime [3]. Lime is
useful for stabilization of clayey soils.
Chemical analyses of lime mud have shown that it is
relatively free of any contaminants [3]. Some of the
mechanical properties of soil can be changed by addition
of paper mill lime sludge in different proportions and
forests roads could be stabilized and maintained by using
lime mud waste. [9]. Effects of two types of lime on
unstable (CBR<6) sub-grade soil were investigated by
Hieckel (1997) and it was found that dried lime kiln
sludge and hydrated lime by-product reduced the
maximum dry density and plasticity index. Limes also
increased optimum moisture contents, compressive
strengths and immediate bearing values of sub-grade
soils. The effectiveness of cement kiln dust as a soil
stabilizer was investigated and it was found that the
addition of cement kiln dust increased the unconfined
compressive strength of soil [9]. Significant progress has
been made in the use of paper mill sludge as a material
for land fill cover by replacing the clays or geo-
composites.
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PMS behaves similar to a highly organic soil and has
good chemical, hydrodynamic and geotechnical
properties which make it an efficient impermeable
hydrodynamic barrier for the land field cover [9].
Also if a by-product can be shown to have a beneficial
reuse, it is not regulated as industrial waste and lime
sludge is a by-product of pulp mill that is useful as liming
agent.
An effort has therefore been made here to study the
possibility of the use of NPM lime sludge as stabilizing
agent of village road sub-base.
II. COLLECTION O F M ATERIALS
Collection of soil samples
Three disturbed soil samples were collected from
different sites of Assam.
Collection of paper mill sludge
Lime mud sludge which is a typical paper mill waste
was procured from the dumping site of Nagaon paper
mill, Nagaon, Assam, India.
III. METHODOLOGY USED
Determination of particle size
The particle size analysis of soil samples and lime
sludge was performed to determine the gravel, sands,
silts and clay contents. The percentages of various sizes
of particles in all the soil samples and lime sludge were
obtained by wet sieve analysis and the percentages of
different fractions are presented in Table 1.
Determination of Consistency limit
The consistency is largely related with the amount of
water content of soil and mostly used for fine grained
soils. Liquid limit (LL) was determined by using cone
penetrometer and plastic limit (PL) was obtained by
thread rolling method. Shrinkage limit was not
determined here. The tests results are shown in Table 2.
The soils are then classified as per IS (IS: 1498-1970).
Soils are found to be silts and clay of low compressibility
(CL; S1 and S2) and silts and clay of high compressibility
(CH; S3).
Determination of Compaction Property and CBR value
Compaction properties are determined by standard
Proctor test as per IS:2720 (PartVII).The test was
performed in a cylindrical mould of 1000 ml capacity
using a rammer of weight 2.6 kg with 310 mm height of
free fall. Soaked CBR values of soil sample were
determined as per procedure laid down in IS: 2720 (Part
XVI) - 1979. The values are presented in Table 2.
 International Journal of Emerging Technology and Advanced Engineering
Website: www.ijetae.com (ISSN 2250-2459, ISO 9001:2008 Certified Journal, Volume 5, Issue 2, February 2015)
Table 1:
Particle sizes of soils and lime sludge. S1 S2 S3 Lime sludge
100
Particles S1 S2 S3 Lime
sludge 80
Gravels (%) 0.91 1.68 0.00 0.47

% Finer
Sands (%) 13.57 48.65 14.64 84.99 60
Silts (%) 81.10 49.00 76.00 13.31
Clay (%) 5.42 10.67 9.36 1.23 40

20
Table 2: 0
Physical properties of soils.
0.001 0.01 0.1 1 10 100
Physical S1 S2 S3 Particle Size (mm)
Properties Fig.1: Particle size analysis of collected soils and lime mud.
LL (%) 36.53 30.96 57.43
PL (%) 18.75 14.41 39.58
PI (%) 17.78 16.55 17.58 S1 S2 S3
OMC (%) 16.79 14.20 28.82
MDD(gm/cc) 1.48 1.74 1.51 70
CBR (%) 3.44 3.64 3.32 60
Liquid limit (%)

50
Determination of properties of soil lime sludge mixture 40
In order to investigate the effects of lime sludge on the 30
properties of soils mentioned above, the collected soils 20
(S1, S2 and S3) were treated with the percentage of 0, 5, 0% 5% 10% 15%
10 and 15% lime mud based on the dry weight and then Lime sludge (%)
standard samples were prepared for physical testing. Due
to the high water content of lime mud, initially it was
dried to environment temperature and subsequently Fig.2: Variation of liquid limit depending on the addition of lime
mud.
screened before being mixed with the soil samples. All
the tests as stated above (expect particle size analysis)
were performed on the mixture of soil and lime mud. S1 S2 S3

IV. RESULTS AND D ISCUSSIONS

Plastic limit (%)

42
Particle size analysis
Results of particle size analysis of soils and lime mud 32
were shown in fig.1. From the test results it can be said
22
that all the soil samples are fine grained (clays) and the
lime mud is clayey sands (>12% fines). As the lime 12
sludge contains an appreciable amount of sands (84.90%) 0% 5% 10% 15%
it will provide proper drainage in the road sub base.
Lime sludge (%)
Atterberg limits
Variations of Atterberg limits are presented in figures Fig.3: Variation of plastic limit depending on the addition of lime
2-4. Figures 2-4 depicts the effects of addition of lime mud.
sludge on the Atterberg limits of the soil under study.
Addition of lime sludge lowers the liquid limit, raised the
plastic limit and reduces the plasticity index of all the soil
under study. This will render the clayey soil friable, easy
to be pulverized and will reduce the shrinkage [1]. These
are favorable conditions for earth roads.

391
 International Journal of Emerging Technology and Advanced Engineering
Website: www.ijetae.com (ISSN 2250-2459, ISO 9001:2008 Certified Journal, Volume 5, Issue 2, February 2015)

S1 S2 S3 S1 S2 S3
25
1.9
Plasticity Index (%)

20 1.7

Dry Density (gm/cc)

15 1.5
1.3
10 1.1
5 0.9
0.7
0
0.5
0% 5% 10% 15%
0% 5% 10% 15%
Lime sludge (%)
Lime sludge (%)

Fig.6: Variation of maximum dry density depending on the

Fig.4: Variation of plasticity index depending on the addition of
addition of lime mud.
lime mud.

Compaction Properties
S1 S2 S3
Effects of lime sludge on soil compaction properties California Bearing Ratio (%)
are reflected in figures 5-6. From figures 6 and 7 it is 5
clear that optimum moisture content increases and 4.5
maximum dry density decreases with increase in lime 4
mud in all types of soil. The increase may be due to
3.5
consumption of more water by lime and the decrease in
3
maximum dry density may be due to increase in OMC.
2.5
2
S1 S2 S3
0% 5% 10% 15%
40 Lime sludge (%)
30
OMC (%)

Fig.7: Variation of CBR value depending on the addition of lime

20 mud.

10
V. CONCLUSIONS
0 From the above study the following conclusions can
0% 5% 10% 15% be made:
Lime sludge (%)  Lime sludge of Nagaon Paper Mill contains about
84.90% of sands.
Fig.5: Variation of OMC depending on the addition of lime mud.  Addition of lime sludge lowers the liquid limit,
raised the plastic limit and reduces the plasticity
California Bearing Ratio (CBR) Value index of clayey soils.
Effect of lime waste on CBR value of soil is shown in  Optimum moisture content increases and maximum
figure 7. dry density decreases with increase in addition lime
From figure 7 it is evident that CBR value increases mud with clayey soils.
with addition of lime mud in all types of soil. At 15%  CBR value of clayey soils increases with addition
addition of lime sludge, the increase in CBR is 19.76% of paper mill lime mud in all types of sludge. The
for soil S1. For soil S2 and S3 the increase is 23.90% and percentage of increase depends on the type of soil.
9.33% respectively.  Lime sludge of NPM may be used for stabilization
of village road sub-base.

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 International Journal of Emerging Technology and Advanced Engineering
Website: www.ijetae.com (ISSN 2250-2459, ISO 9001:2008 Certified Journal, Volume 5, Issue 2, February 2015)
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