Assessment of soil stabilization technique for in situ and ex situ applications

The objective of the project is to evaluate possibilities of applying soil chemical stabilization technique either (1) for pre-treatment of contaminated soil before its disposal; or (2) for utilization of stabilized soil as a construction material at landfills.

Excavation and disposal of contaminated masses at landfills is a prevailing soil remediation method used today. Soil stabilization technique, that reduces contaminant mobility and hence risks for the environment, may allow to reduce a hazard of waste, but also to utilise the treated soil as a secondary construction material at landfills. By this, demand for landfill capacity, clean soil and landfilling costs could be considerably reduced. The project is divided into two parts accordingly the research questions to be answered: (1) Assessment of physical and chemical stability of treated soil: including changes in physical properties and contaminant leaching from stabilized soil as affected by the selected soil amendments under simulated landfill conditions (anaerobic environment); and (2) Assessment of stabilized soil as a construction material for a landfill cover: the lab experiments on environmentally relevant properties of stabilised soil will be further extended to improve geotechnical properties of the material and applied in filed tests, where a pilot scale landfill cover will be constructed with stabilized soil.

The project is financed by the Swedish Research Council for Environment, Agricultural Sciences and Spatial Planning (FORMAS).

Jurate Kumpiene