Physical and mechanical performance of quicklime-activated GGBS stabilized Hong Kong marine sediment at high water content

The treatment of marine sediment has been a global-scale challenge. Portland cement (PC) is widely-used binder in the conventional stabilization/solidification method. Use of PC can cause serious environmental pollution. In this context, the environment-friendly binder (blend of quicklime and ground granulated blast-furnace slag (GGBS)) has been adopted to replace PC in the soil remediation field. This study investigated the quicklime-activated GGBS for the stabilization of marine sediment at high water content. The physicochemical and unconfined compression measurements were performed to analyze the physical, chemical, and strength characteristics of the quicklime-GGBS stabilized sediments. The results were compared with that of PC-stabilized sediment. As compared to the PC-stabilized sediment, the quicklime-GGBS stabilized sediment would generate larger volume shrinkage, lower water content, and slightly higher density. With reducing quicklime proportion and continuing curing time, the pH of the quicklime-GGBS stabilized sediment gradually decreases. The unconfined compressive strength of the lime-GGBS stabilized sediment shows a trend of first increasing (quicklime-binder ratio of 0.05-0.15) and then decreasing (0.15-0.3) and finally increasing again (0.3-0.4). The maximum strengths appear at the quicklime-binder ratios of 0.15 and 0.4. The maximum strength at the quicklime-binder ratio of 0.15 is 1.4 times than the corresponding PC-stabilized sediment under the same condition. The findings indicate that the combination of GGBS with little quicklime has the potential to replace PC for stabilizing natural sediment at high water content.

Automated summary

The study investigates the use of an environment-friendly binder, a blend of quicklime and ground granulated blast-furnace slag (GGBS), for the stabilization of marine sediment at high water content. Compared to Portland cement (PC), the quicklime-GGBS stabilized sediment shows differences in volume shrinkage, water content, density, and unconfined compressive strength. The findings suggest that the combination of GGBS with little quicklime has the potential to replace PC in stabilizing natural sediment.