Soil Stabilization with Bioenergy Coproduct

Abstract

The production and use of biofuel have increased under the context of sustainable development. Biofuel production from plant biomass not only produces biofuel or ethanol but also coproduces products containing lignin, modified lignin, and lignin derivatives. The use of lignin-containing biofuel coproduct in pavement soil stabilization was explored as a new application area. The primary experimental test plan encompassed the comparison of coproduct-treated soils, untreated soils, and traditional stabilizer-treated soils in terms of their strengths. The focus of the secondary experimental test plan was to investigate the effect of additive combinations on strength improvement. The laboratory test matrix in each test plan included variations in additive type, additive content, curing period, and moisture condition. Statistical analyses were performed on unconfined compression strength test results to evaluate whether the strength improvements resulting from the addition of the coproducts to soils are significant. Results indicated that the biofuel coproducts are effective in stabilizing the Iowa Class 10 soil classified as CL or A-6(8). Strengths comparable to traditional additive (fly ash) could be obtained through the use of combined additives (Coproduct A + fly ash; Coproduct A + Coproduct B). The use of biofuel coproduct as a stabilization material for soil appears to be one of many viable answers to the profitability of the biobased products and the bioenergy business.

Experimental investigation of thermal and mechanical properties of lignin treated silt

“…The design amount of lignin and water were calculated by dry weight of soil and added into soil. The additive contents were set as 2%, 5%, 8%, 12% and 15%, as recommended by Tingle and Santoni (2003) and Ceylan et al (2010). The amount of lignin was first added with additional amount of water needed to achieve the optimum moisture content (OMC) or wet moisture content (WMC, WMC = OMC + 4%) or dry moisture content (DMC, DMC = OMC − 4%).…”

“…To overcome these problems, a new alternative soil stabilizer that improves soils environmentally friendly and maintains sufficiently ductile treated soils must be found. Lignin, a kind of origin polymer compound which is a by-product of paper and timber industry has been recognized in recent years as a promising soil stabilizer for cohesive and non-cohesive soils (Puppala and Hanchanloet, 1999;Karol, 2003;Tingle and Santoni, 2003;Santoni et al, 2005;Indraratna et al, 2009;Ceylan et al, 2010). It consists of both hydrophilic groups including sulfonate, phenylic hydroxyl, alcoholic hydroxyl and hydrophobic groups including the carbon chain (Chen, 2004;Jiang, 2008).…”

Use of neural networks for the prediction of the CBR value of some Aegean sands

“…A paired t test result can be expressed in terms of a p value, which represents the weight of evidence for rejecting the null hypothesis [53]. The null hypothesis is the equality of mean of difference between comparisons [11]. The null hypothesis can be rejected, that is, the mean of difference between comparisons are significantly different, if the p value is less than the selected significance level [11].…”

“…The null hypothesis is the equality of mean of difference between comparisons [11]. The null hypothesis can be rejected, that is, the mean of difference between comparisons are significantly different, if the p value is less than the selected significance level [11]. A significance level of 0.05 is used for all paired t tests [11].…”

“…The null hypothesis can be rejected, that is, the mean of difference between comparisons are significantly different, if the p value is less than the selected significance level [11]. A significance level of 0.05 is used for all paired t tests [11]. Thus, p [ 0.05 meant there was not a meaningful difference, and p \ 0.05 meant there was a meaningful difference [83].…”