Major Project on

STABILIZATION OF EXPANSIVE SOIL

USING SUGARCANE ASH

Submitted by
A. Sai Bindu (17R11A0149)
B. Lahari (17R11A0155)
B. Prahalad (17R11A0154)

Under the Guidance of

K. Priyanka
Assistant Professor

2020-2021
Department of Civil Engineering
GEETHANJALI COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING AND
TECHNOLOGY (AUTONOMOUS)
CHEERYAL (V), KEESARA (M), MEDCHAL Dist.-501301
 INTRODUCTION
• Expansive soils in India cover nearly 20% of the land area. Dealing with expansive clay
soils at construction site is normally attributed to high cost of construction material.
• Soils with desirable engineering properties must be transported from quarries which are
usually located kilometres away from the site and hence raise the cost of construction.
Also, the transportation of large quantities of building material has negative impact on
the environment and is not a sustainable practice.
• The solution to this problem is to create a cheaper construction material by improving
the geotechnical properties of in-situ material to reduce the overall cost.
• Stabilization process has been used to improve the properties of clay soil to attain
engineering requirements but traditional stabilizers like lime and cement have become
very expensive and their side effects to the environment have minimized their usage.
• Typically, from processing 10 tons of sugarcane in a factory, 3-4 tons of bagasse is
obtained.
• This bagasse is normally deposited as waste and it litters the environment. Most of the
bagasse produced, in some cases, supplies the fuel required for the generation of steam
and eventually results in bagasse ash.
• The ash is deposited in stockpiles which are normally dumped in waste landfills and
constitute to environmental problems.
• The main focus of this study was on bagasse ash waste, a by-product which has disposal
problem in the sugar factories.
 What is Bagasse Ash?
• In the process of making sugar, sugarcane is crushed to extract the juice.
• The bagasse is the fibrous waste that remains after the extraction of juice from the
sugarcane.
• Bagasse ash is the material obtained from incineration of fibrous bagasse.
• When burnt, bagasse ash contain a high proportion of silica, which can be used as
pozzolan.

Fig 1: Bagasse fiber Fig 2: Bagasse Ash

 OBJECTIVES OF THE PROJECT

Objective 1:

To explore the possibility of using agro-industrial waste material like bagasse ash in
soil stabilization.

Objective 2:

To investigate and compare the physical and engineering properties of natural soil and
bagasse ash stabilized soil.

Objective 3:

To determine the optimum percentage of bagasse ash to be added to expansive soil for
soil stabilization.
 LITERATURE REVIEW
Amruta P, et. al. (2016) studied the test results of various soil samples and compared the
results of normal black cotton soil sample and black cotton mixed with varying percentages of
bagasse ash and lime. The various tests performed on the samples are liquid limit, plastic limit,
plasticity index, differential free swell test, Standard proctor compaction test, and California
bearing ratio test. The tests were performed on normal BCS Sample and soil containing Bagasse
and lime in varying percentages of bagasse ash: Lime. It was observed that there was noticeable
decrease in plasticity index and increase in CBR value at optimum ratio.

Aakanksha Gautam, et. al. (2018) They studied to enhance the properties of Black cotton soil
by utilizing bagasse ash and coir fibre. Tests were conducted for various soil samples with
percentage of bagasse ash of 5%, 10%, 15%, 20%. It was found that 10% bagasse ash was
optimum percent and further to this 10% bagasse ash soil sample, coir fibre in 2%, 4%, 6%
were added to the soil sample. It was found that addition of sugarcane ash and coir fibre in soil
gave the maximum bearing capacity and strength.
Hayder Hasan, et. al. (2016) In this study, Samples were prepared using different contents of
bagasse ash and hydrated lime in 0%, 6%, 10%, 18% and 25% by dry mass of soil. The results
of free swell ration (FSR) test, UCS and CBR tests were presented for treated and untreated
samples after various curing periods of 3,7 and 28 days. The outcomes of these tests
demonstrate that bagasse and hydrated lime addition to black cotton soil can effectively
increase the strength of soil.

Kiran R.G, et. al. (2013) mixed different percentages like 4%, 8% and 12% of bagasse ash
with 4%, 8% and 12% of cement in the black cotton soil. It was observed that blend of
bagasse ash with different percentage of cement showed significant changes in values of
MDD, CBR and UCS. The MDD value, CBR value and UCS value have been found to
increase after mixing the soil with bagasse ash and cement blend.

Amit S Kharade, et al. (2014) In this study, various experiments were done on samples. The
partial replacement of soil with bagasse ash at the rate of 3%, 6%, 9% and 12% is done. At
6% of replacement of soil with bagasse ash without any addition of chemicals and binding
material showed very high rise in properties of black cotton soil.
 METHODOLOGY
Stage 1: Procurement of materials
• Black Cotton Soil
The soil sample for this study was collected locally from a farmer in Cheeryal, Telangana.

Fig 3: Black Cotton Soil sample

• Sugarcane Bagasse Ash
Procurement of bagasse ash was done was from ‘Ganapati Sugar Industries limited’ located
in Kulabgoor, Sangareddy district.

Fig 4: Ganapati Sugar Industries Ltd, Sangareddy

Stage 2: Laboratory Experimentation

The following experiments were conducted on virgin soil

1. Grading of soil

2. Specific Gravity

3. Atterberg Limits

4. Standard Proctor Test

5. California Bearing Ratio Test

6. Unconfined Compressive Strength Test

7. Differential Free Swell Index Test

Stage 3: Sample preparation of Soil and Bagasse Ash mixture
• Collected soil material is first dried in direct sunlight.

• The clods are broken to get a uniform sample.

• The organic matters, small aggregates, broken wooden material, pieces of glasses
are removed carefully from soil sample.

• Sample is kept in oven for drying to use in test at temperature 105℃ for 24 hrs.
The prepared sample is then used for the testing.

• The agricultural waste bagasse ash is also kept in oven for maintaining the dry form
of the ash.

• The weight of soil sample taken for test is replaced by percentage of weight of
bagasse ash.

• Four different blends are prepared for replacement of soil in varying proportion of
(5%, 10%, 15% and 20%).
Stage 4: Laboratory Experimentation on Soil Samples mixed
with different percentages of Bagasse Ash

The following experiments were conducted on 5%, 10%, 15% and 20% bagasse ash
mixed with soil samples

1. Atterberg Limits (Liquid limit, Plastic limit, Plasticity Index)

2. Standard Proctor Test

3. California Bearing Ratio Test

4. Unconfined Compressive Strength Test

5. Differential Free Swell Index Test

 RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
1. Results for Chemical Composition of Bagasse Ash and Properties of Virgin soil

Table 1: Chemical composition of

bagasse ash.
Table 2: Properties of Virgin soil
2. Results for Atterberg Limits 3. Results for Differential Free Swell
Index Test
Table 4: FSI
Table 3: Atterberg’s Limit

Fig 5: Graph showing variation of LL, PL, PI with Fig 6: Graph showing variation of FSI with
% replacement by bagasse ash. % replacement by bagasse ash.
   
4. Results for Maximum Dry Density 5. Results for Optimum Moisture Content

Table 5: MDD Table 6: OMC

Fig 7: Graph showing variation of MDD with Fig 8: Graph showing variation of OMC with
% replacement by bagasse ash. % replacement by bagasse ash.
6. Results for California Bearing Ratio Test 7. Results for Unconfined Compressive
Strength Test
Table 7: CBR Table 8: UCS

Fig 9: Graph showing variation of CBR with % Fig 10: Graph showing variation of UCS with
replacement by bagasse ash % replacement by bagasse ash
 CONCLUSION
 Soil stabilization method by using waste product bagasse ash successfully improves the
existing poor and expansive black cotton soil.
 Bagasse ash being free of cost and available locally, proves to be economical.
 Bagasse ash effectively dries wet soils and provides an initial rapid strength gain, which is
useful during construction in wet, unstable ground conditions.
 Bagasse ash also decreases swell potential of Black Cotton Soils by replacing some of the
volume previously held by expansive clay minerals and by cementing the soil particles
together.
 On treatment with bagasse ash, plastic nature of the soil decreases and contribute to gain in
strength.
 Bagasse ash effectively stabilizes black cotton soil and increases the compressive strength
of the soil.
 The optimum dosage of bagasse ash in stabilizing black cotton soil is 10% by dry weight
of the soil.
 Bagasse ash is found to influence the index and engineering properties of black cotton soil
making it suitable for construction as a foundation material for structures built over it.
 The utilization of this bagasse ash reduces the littering of environment caused by dumping
of this ash.
 APPLICATIONS

• For Silica sources

• Making of bricks

• As mineral admixture

• In light weight concrete

• Foundation Stabilization for buildings

• Sub-grade Soil Stabilization for roadways, runways, etc

 FUTURE SCOPE
• As bagasse ash is pozzolanic, studies can be done on suitability of bagasse ash in
replacement of cement in various construction practices.

• Further research can be carried out to study the long term effects of bagasse ash on
various engineering properties of soil.

• Research can be done for seepage analysis of soil modified with bagasse ash.
 REFERENCES
1. Amruta P. Kulkarni, Mithun. K. Sawant, Vaishnavi V. Battul, Mahesh S. Shindepatil,
Aavani P. 2016, ‘Black Cotton Soil Stabilization Using Bagasse Ash and Lime’,
International Journal of Civil Engineering and Technology, Vol No. 7, Issue No. 6, PP:
460-470
2. Aakanksha Gautam, S. K. Mittal, 2018, ‘Stabilization of black cotton soil using bagasse
ash and coir fibre’, International Journal of Advance Research, Ideas and Innovations in
Technology, Vol No. 4, Issue No. 5, PP: 724-727
3. Hayder Hasan, Liet Dang, Hadi Khabbaz, Behzad Fatahi, and Sergei Terzaghi, 2016,
‘Remediation of Expansive Soils Using Agricultural Waste Bagasse Ash’, International
Conference on Transportation Geotechnics, Procedia Engineering, Vol No.143, PP: 1368-
1375
4. Kiran R. G, Kiran L, 2013, ‘Analysis of Strength Characteristics of Black Cotton Soil
Using Bagasse Ash and Additives as Stabilizer’, International Journal of Engineering
Research & Technology, Vol No. 2, Issue No. 7, PP: 2240-2246
5. Amit S. Kharade, Vishal V. Suryavanshi, Bhikaji S. Gujar, Rohankit R. Deshmukh,
2014, ‘Waste Product ‘Bagasse Ash’ From Sugar Industry can be used as Stabilizing
Material for Expansive Soils’, International Journal of Research in Engineering and
Technology, Vol No. 3, Issue No. 3, PP: 506-512
Thank You