Experimental study on black cotton soil treated with xanthan gum and palm oil fuel ash

Abstract

This paper presents the results of the laboratory evaluation of black cotton soil stabilized with Palm Oil Fuel Ash(POFA) and Xanthan Gum(XG), to determine its suitability as reliable construction material. POFA, a major byproduct of the palm oil industry is being dumped into open fields which can cause environmental problems. Using POFA as an additive in soil stabilization can be an eco-friendly and sustainable practice. XG which is generally used as a thickening agent in the food and pharmaceutical industries is used in this study as a binding material. Several influential properties such as UCS, CBR, Compaction characteristics, and Atterberg limits were found for control samples and compared with the samples treated with different percentages of POFA and XG ratio and on different curing periods. The tests are performed by varying the POFA (0-25%) while keeping the XG constant at 1% to the weight of dry soil. The specimens were cured for different curing periods. There is a significant change in the shear strength of the soil as the UCS value increased by 374% and the CBR value increased by 379% when the control sample is compared with those of treated samples with 20% POFA+1% XG at 90-day curing period.