Enhancing the compressive strength of landfill soil using cement and bagasse ash

The stabilisation of contaminated soil with cement and agricultural waste is a widely applied method which contributes to the sustainability of the environment. Soil may be stabilised to increase strength and durability or to prevent erosion and other geotechnical failure. This study was carried out to evaluate the compressive strength of ex-landfill soil when cement and bagasse ash (BA) are added to it. Different proportions of cement (5%, 10%, 15% and 20%) was added to sample weights without BA. On the other hand, the cement in a different batch of sample weights was replaced by 2.5%, 5%, 7.5% and 10% of BA. All samples were allowed to harden and were cured at room temperature for 7, 14 and 28 days respectively. The strength of the contaminated soil was assessed using an unconfined compressive strength test (UCS). The laboratory tests also included the index properties of soil, cement and bagasse ash in raw form. The results indicated that the samples with cement achieved the highest compressive strength measuring 4.39 MPa. However, this study revealed that the use of bagasse ash produced low quality products with a reduction in strength. For example, when 5% of cement was replaced with 5% ash, the compressive strength decreased by about 54% from 0.72 MPa to 0.33 MPa. Similarly, the compressive strength of each sample after a curing period of 28 days was higher compared to samples cured for 7 and 14 days respectively. This is proved that a longer curing period is needed to increase the compressive strength of the samples