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S5. Sustainable Subgrade Improvement Using Limestone Dust and Sugarcane Bagasse Ash
S5. Sustainable Subgrade Improvement Using Limestone Dust and Sugarcane Bagasse Ash
A R T I C L E I N F O A B S T R A C T
Article History: The study investigated the suitability of Limestone Dust (LSD) and Sugarcane Bagasse Ash (SCBA) as stabilizer
Received 22 June 2022 for the improvement of the geotechnical properties of Calabar subgrade soil. Limestone Dust (LSD) and Sug-
Accepted 7 September 2022 arcane Bagasse Ash (SCBA) wastes were employed as stand-alone stabilizers and in combination, to improve
Available online xxx
the geotechnical properties of Calabar subgrade soil. The soil was classified as clay with low plasticity using
the USC-system and, A-6 under the AASHTO classification. The un-stabilized soil had a maximum dry density
Keywords:
of 1.74 kg/m3 at an optimum moisture content of 24.5%, with a 48-hours soaked California Bearing Ratio
Soil stabilization
(CBR) value of 6.92%, and, an unconfined compressive strength of 103.66 KN/m3. Stabilizers were added at
Limestone dust
Sugarcane bagasse ash
0% − 50% by weight of soil. Results showed a reduction in the swelling potential of the soil, improvements in
Compaction compaction characteristics by a range of 4.3−9,8%, an increase in CBR by 50% -78.5%, unconfined compressive
California bearing ratio strength by 23.8%-38.1%, as well as improvements in shear strength, and secant modulus. It was observed
that LSD as a stand-alone stabilizer and in combination with SCBA, showed better improvement compared to
SCBA as a stand-alone stabilizer. It was concluded that a combination of limestone dust and sugarcane
bagasse ash can be used for soil stabilization, contributing to the useful conversion of wastes and supporting
the global advocacy for sustainable development in term of economic resource utilization
© 2022 The Authors. Published by Elsevier España, S.L.U. on behalf of Sustainable Technology and Entre-
preneurship. This is an open access article under the CC BY license
(http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.stae.2022.100028
2773-0328/© 2022 The Authors. Published by Elsevier España, S.L.U. on behalf of Sustainable Technology and Entrepreneurship. This is an open access article under the CC BY
license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)
D.E. Ewa, E.A. Egbe, J.O. Ukpata et al. Sustainable Technology and Entrepreneurship 2 (2023) 100028
Binoy (2020). However, Fly Ash and LKD can be utilized as a short- can be found are depicted in Fig. 1. As seen in Fig. 2b, limestone is
term soil stabilizer in certain soil types (for construction facilitation). abundant in Cross River State with to local mining operating sites.
The utilization of agricultural and industrial waste in construction Construction of pavement as previously reported in poor sub-
is a step toward solving the ecological challenges associated with dis- grade across most state in rainforest zone of Nigeria is capital inten-
posing such waste. This is because the production of large amounts of sive as often the unsuitable material is usually replaced with
agricultural wastes and the improper management of such wastes recommended material hauled from distance. This situation is the
causes serious environmental problems such as air, water and soil same for most cities in the country including Calabar which is the ref-
pollution. Several studies have been carried out on biowaste to erence city for this study. The use of alternative materials to stabilize
improve the soil properties such as compaction, shear strength, per- subgrade is gaining acceptance to lessen or eliminate the demand for
meability etc., among them is the sugarcane bagasse ash which is a the conventional stabilizers and reduce cost associated with subgrade
by-product of crushed sugarcane. improvement.
Bagasse is a residual fibrous material after crushing sugarcane to In most cities of the world including Calabar, Nigeria large quan-
extract its juice; and Sugarcane Bagasse Ash is produced after burning tity sugarcane waste are produced annually. Onchieku, et al. (2012)
bagasse. Inappropriate disposal of this material can create environ- in Salim, Ndambuki and David (2014) reported that many developing
mental challenges around sugar manufacturing plants. According to countries produce large amount of Sugarcane Bagasse Ash with lim-
Hasan, Dang, Khabbaz, Fatahi and Sergei Terzaghi (2016) ‘’Bagasse ited recycling for soil amendment. Kenya for example generate an
ash, comprising a high percentage of silica (SiO2), is considered as a estimated 1.6 million tons of Sugarcane Bagasse Ash per year with a
sensible pozzolanic material with non-reactive behavior and has potential of about 2.6 million tons out of which only 25% is recycled
potential to be used in road subgrade stabilisation’’. by the factories as a renewable energy. Greater percentage of it is dis-
Sugarcane Bagasse Ash has received a lot of research as a soil sta- posed to open landfills which contravenes the current global advocacy
bilizer. When soil containing kaolinite clay was stabilized with for sustainable development in term of economic resource utilization
bagasse ash, the strength and index values improved to some extent, (Okafor & Egbe, 2013). Although statistic is scanty but it was reported
according to Athira and Sini (2019). This agrees with (Kharade, Sur- that Nigeria in 2013 produced over 15 million tons of sugarcane
yanshi & Deshmukh, 2014). Bagasse ash, on the other hand, was (Abdulkadir, Onyejobi & Lawal, 2014). One ton of sugarcane according
found to be ineffectual as a “stand-alone” stabilizer by Osinubi, J to Ganesan, Rajagopal and Thangave (2007) generates 280 kg of
Bafyau and Adrian (2009), and should instead be utilized in admix- bagasse, the waste from it if properly utilized would not only be eco-
ture stabilization. nomical, but may also result to foreign exchange earnings and envi-
Nigeria is also blessed with naturally occurring deposit of large ronmental pollution control as reported by Balogun (2009); Magudu,
quantities of limestone found in several states including Cross River, Abdulwahab and Aigbodion (2009); and (Aigbodion et al., 2008)
Ebonyi, Abia, Imo, Enugu, Benue, Edo, Ogun, Sokoto, Bauchi, and The conversion of sugar cane waste to ash could create entrepre-
Gombe. The several places of Nigeria where limestone and marble neurial opportunities and source of livelihood for those farmers
Fig. 1. Geology map of Nigeria showing Limestone and Marble Occurrences (Fatoye & Yomi, 2013).
2
D.E. Ewa, E.A. Egbe, J.O. Ukpata et al. Sustainable Technology and Entrepreneurship 2 (2023) 100028
Fig. 2. (a) Sampling of soil (b) limestone site (c) Air drying of soil sample and (d) burnt sugarcane bagasse ash.
The subgrade soil used was obtained in Calabar, Niger Delta The study adopt both field exploration and laboratory testing for
region, Nigeria within coordinates 425512.955E and 544220.535 N the determination strength properties prior and after treatment with
32 N (4°550 23.7700 N, Longitude: 8°190 41.3300 E).The soil was collected additives.
at a depth of 0.5−1 m using a hand auger, (see Fig. 2), air-dried, and The lateritic subgrade was stabilized by the addition of the stabil-
stored in sag bags in the laboratory. The soil’s index properties were izers following the mix proportion of Table 3. Each stabilizer was also
determined according to BS (1990). used as a stand-alone chemical additive and in combination with
each other. Tests conducted on the matrix include Atterberg’s limits,
particle size distribution, dry density, the California Bearing Ratio
Stabilizers (CBR), Secant Modulus, and Unconfined Compressive (USC) test, see
set-ups in Fig. 3. Linear Shrinkage was estimated using Eq. (1) as
Limestone Dust (LSD) and Sugarcane Bagasse Ash (SCBA) were
employed separately and in combination to improve the subgrade’s Table 3
geotechnical properties. The LSD was obtained from a local mining Mix Proportion.
site at Mfamosing on GPS coordinates of 5°40 56.89200 N, 8°310 31.41500
SN Soil Sugarcane Limestone LSD-SCBA Designation
E and as seen in Fig. 2. The SCBA was obtained by burning sugarcane
Bagasse Ash Dust
bagasse from Mbukpa community located on the following GPS coor-
dinates: N4° 56ʹ 31.354ʺE, 8°18ʹ 59.722ʺ, in Calabar, Cross River State, 1 100 0 0 0 Control
Nigeria. The stabilizers were sieved through a sieve 200 mm and 2 95 0 5 0 LSD
3 90 0 10 0 LSD
stored in airtight sag bags. Table 1 shows the basic properties of the 4 85 0 15 0 LSD
stabilizer while Table 2 present the chemical compositions of the sta- 5 75 0 25 0 LSD
bilizers as determined by X-ray fluorescence (XRF) examination. The 6 50 0 50 0 LSD
LSD composition agrees with values previousely reported by Penuel, 7 95 5 0 0 SCBA
8 90 10 0 0 SCBA
9 85 15 0 0 SCBA
10 75 25 0 0 SCBA
Table 1
11 50 50 0 0 SCBA
Basic properties of Stabilizers.
13 95 0 0 5 LSD-SCBA
Stabilizer Specific gravity % Passing sieve 200mm 13 90 0 0 10 LSD-SCBA
14 85 0 0 15 LSD-SCBA
LSD 2.6 23.5 15 75 0 0 25 LSD-SCBA
SCBA 1.9 21.2 16 50 0 0 50 LSD-SCBA
3
D.E. Ewa, E.A. Egbe, J.O. Ukpata et al. Sustainable Technology and Entrepreneurship 2 (2023) 100028
Fig. 3. (a) USC set up. (b) Atterberg Limit set up, (c) drying oven used.
4
D.E. Ewa, E.A. Egbe, J.O. Ukpata et al. Sustainable Technology and Entrepreneurship 2 (2023) 100028
Fig. 5. (a) Influence of stabilizers on Liquid Limit, (b) Influence of stabilizers on Plastic Limit, (c) influence of stabilizers on Plasticity index (d) influence of stabilizers on Shrinkage
Limit.
availability of calcium and silicates for cation exchange. The com- Fig. 5a-d, LSD had a better effect on reducing the tendency for expan-
bined impact of non-plastic ash particles made of pozzolans partially sion than the other stabilizers.
replacing plastic soil particles can also explain this phenomenon. A
drop in the plasticity index implies that soil qualities have improved. Compaction characteristics
LSD as a stand-alone stabilizer had a better improvement on plastic-
ity than SCBA and LSD-SCBA combinations. Linear shrinkage also All the stabilizers improved the maximum dry density (MMD) as
decreased with an increase in stabilizers contents. The decrease in can be seen in Fig. 6. For LSD, SCBA, and LSD-SCBA, the MDD increases
shrinkage limit implies that the soil becomes less expansive. From by 7.4%, 4.3%, and 9.8%, respectively, at 15% stabilizers content. LSD
5
D.E. Ewa, E.A. Egbe, J.O. Ukpata et al. Sustainable Technology and Entrepreneurship 2 (2023) 100028
The California Bearing Ratio (CBR) is a tool for determining the Secant modulus
strength of soil subgrades and base courses in California. As shown in
Fig. 7, all three stabilizers improved CBR values, with LSD giving the From Fig. 10, it is observed that, as stand-alone stabilizers, the
highest improvement. An optimal of 15% and 25% stabilizers content Secant modulus increased to a maximum of 7834 kPa at 10% SCBA
were observed for LSD-SCBA and SCBA respectively. Beyond 15%
LDS-SCBA content, CBR values decreased. For the LSD admixture,
there were linear increases in CBR with stabilizers content up to 50%
replacement level. Change in gradation of the matrix with the addi-
tion of LSD could be responsible in the increase in CBR. Since the
limestone dust was not calcined, the CaO present in the LSD may
have impacted only on strengthening the physical structure of the
matrix, with no formation of hydration products as reported by
Ojeda-Farias, Mendoza-Rangel and Baltazar-Zamora (2018) where
the formation of stable calcium silicate hydrate (CSH) and calcium
aluminate hydrates (CAH) by the pozzolanic reaction of SCBA results
in long-term strength enhancement due the presence of Portland
cement. The increase in CBR with the presence of SCBA could be
related to cation exchange, which induces flocculation and agglomer-
ation. While LSD and a combination of LSD-SCBA admixture could be
used as stand-alone’ stabilizers, SCBA should not be utilized as a Fig. 8. Influence of stabilizers on UCS.
6
D.E. Ewa, E.A. Egbe, J.O. Ukpata et al. Sustainable Technology and Entrepreneurship 2 (2023) 100028
Author contributions
and 6684 kPa at 25% LSD after which, secant modulus declined for Funding
both stabilizers. For the LSD-SCBA admixtures, the secant modulus
increased to 12,193 kPa at 15% stabilizer content, indicating a 155.9% “This research received no external funding”
improvement in the stiffness of the stabilized soil. Beyond this opti-
mal level, stiffness reduced with increase in stabilizers content. The Declaration of Competing Interest
secant modulus measures the stiffness of the soil in the inelastic zone
of the stress-strain curve (Aerospace Engineering 2022). The increase The authors declare no conflict of interest.
in Secant Modulus with increasing stabilizers could be explained by
the self-hardening effect of stabilizers or the bonding of particles to CRediT authorship contribution statement
form larger aggregates, resulting in a coarse-grained, highly bony
soil. Cost of stabilization is therefore estimated to drop by 15−25% as Desmond E. Ewa: Conceptualization, Methodology, Software, Val-
cement or lime are excluded wholly. idation, Formal analysis, Investigation, Resources, Data curation,
Writing − original draft, Supervision, Project administration. Enang
Conclusions A. Egbe: Methodology, Validation, Investigation, Resources, Writing
− review & editing. Joseph O. Ukpata: Conceptualization, Validation,
Limestone dust and sugarcane bagasse ash were utilized to stabi- Investigation, Resources, Writing − review & editing, Supervision.
lize a subgrade soil commonly encountered in Calabar located in the Anderson Etika: Software, Validation, Investigation, Resources,
Niger Delta region of Nigeria. The stabilizers were used as stand- Visualization.
alone and a combination of LSD-SCBA. The soil was classified as A-6
under AASTHO classification and as clay with low (CL) plasticity using References
the USC system. Findings from the work are summarized as follows:
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