Highly Organic Soil Stabilization by Using Sugarcane Bagasse Ash (SCBA)

¹ Department of Infrastructure and Geomatic Engineering, Faculty of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Universiti Tun Hussein Onn Malaysia, 86400 Batu Pahat, Johor, Malaysia
² Geotechnical Engineering Laboratory, Department of Civil Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Kyushu University, 744 Motooka, Nishu-ku 819-0395, Fukuoka, Japan

^* Corresponding author: khaidir@uthm.edu.my

Abstract

The study objective is to develop alternative binders that are environment friendly by utilizing sugarcane bagasse ash (SCBA) in the organic soil stabilization. Together with SCBA, Ordinary Portland Cement (OPC), calcium chloride (CaCl₂) and silica sand (K7) were used as additives to stabilize the peat. In obtaining the optimal mix design, specimens of stabilized peat were tested in unconfined compression. It was found that stabilized peat comprising 20% and 5% (PCB1-20 and PCB2-5) partial replacement of OPC with SCBA 1 and SCBA 2 attain the maximum unconfined compressive strength (UCS) and discovered greater than UCS of peat-cement (PC) specimen. At the optimal mix design, the UCS of the stabilized peat specimens increased with increasing of curing time, preloading rate, OPC and K7 dosage. For PCB1-20 mixture, inclusion of a minimum OPC of 300kg/m³ and K7 of 500kg/m³ along with curing under 20kPa pressure is recommendable for the peat stabilization to be effective. However for PCB2-5, it suggested to use more OPC and K7 dosage or alternatively increase the preloading during curing to 40kPa in order to achieve target UCS. It can be concluded that SCBA 1 has better quality than SCBA 2 in peat stabilization especially the contribution made by its fine particle size.