01506511

Component

Sustainable use of biomass as a renewable source of energy can be an alternative solution to the cost of fossil-based energy and climate warming under the context of sustainable development. Production of bioenergy from plant biomass results not only in bioenergy but also in a large number of coproducts. It contains lignin, modified lignin and lignin derivatives. The type of coproducts depends on the method of bioenergy production and coproducts recovery technique and the biomass sources. The use of lignin-based bioenergy in soil stabilization was explored as a new green application area. This paper reviews the existing research on the use of lignin-based additive for soil stabilization and discusses the mechanism of lignin stabilized soil. A series of laboratory tests, including unconfined compressive strength (UCS), pH, electrical resistivity (ER), scanning electron microscope (SEM) and X-ray diffraction (XRD) tests were made for lignin-treated silt in Jiangsu Province of China. Test results indicated that the lignin-based coproducts are effective in stabilizing the silt in Jiangsu. The UCS of lignin-treated soil samples increase with the increase in content of additives. A high increase in UCS occurred with 12% of additives in all cases. At all the different additive content, the treated soil pH values are less than 10. Knowledge about the clay particles and lignin interaction mechanism is pertinent for long-term environmental sustainability of treated soils, a factor which is poorly understood at microscopic level. SEM and XRD tests were carried out on representative samples to understand the stabilization mechanism at the particle level. The strength improvement of performance exhibited by the lignin-treated soil can be mainly attributed to the particles cementation and forms aggregates. Pozzolanic reaction does not occur in the stabilization process. Use of lignin-based bioenergy coproduct as a new stabilization material for silt appears to be one of many viable answers to the sustainable use of coproducts and green construction.

This paper was sponsored by TRB committee AFS90 Chemical, Mechanical, and Asphalt Stabilization. Alternate title: Stabilization of Silt Using Lignin-Based Bioenergy Co-product.

01503729

14-2051

English

20p

2014

Transportation Research Board 93rd Annual Meeting

Digital/other

Figures; Photos; References; Tables

Biomass fuels; Lignin; Silts; Soil stabilization; Soil tests; Waste products (Materials)

Jiangsu Province (China)

Geotechnology; Highways; I42: Soil Mechanics

Transportation Research Board Annual Meeting 2014 Paper #14-2051

TRIS, TRB, ATRI

Jan 27 2014 2:43PM