Characterization of Stabilised Sewage Sludge for Reuse in Road Pavement

Abstract

In recent years, the disposal of sewage sludge has been a major concern worldwide because of their potential treat in relation with the contamination of ground water and food chain. Furthermore, their poor mechanical properties don’t allow a possible direct use in civil engineering applications. For these reasons, it was important to explore more opportunity to reuse this by-product of sewage treatment. In this frame, the solidificationstabilisation technique (S-S) which is based on hydraulic binders can improve the properties of sewage sludge so that it can be used in civil engineering application, especially in road pavements. In this context, this paper investigates the possibility of using the solidified sludge in road construction. To achieve this goal, an experimental protocol was conducted using a several combined binders: combination of Cement/ Limestone filler and Cement/Lime, with different amounts in the target to fix the optimal mixtures amount. Several tests were conducted to characterise the mechanical and geotechnical properties of the solidified sludge. The results indicate that the solidified sludge using a combined mixture of cement and lime allows a possible use as base and sub-base layer.