Abstract
The use of different chemical and biological admixtures to improve the ground conditions has been a common practice in geotechnical engineering for decades. The use of waste material in these mixtures has received increasing attention in the recent years. This investigation evaluates the effects of using recycled tire polymer fibers (RTPF) and sugar molasses mixed with kaolin clay on the engineering properties of the soil. RTPF were obtained from a tire recycling company, while the molasses were extracted from a sugar cane manufacturer, both located in Colombia. RTPF is a waste and therefore its utilization is the first positive impact of this research, a green solution for this byproduct. Treated kaolin clay is widely used in many industrial processes, such as concrete, paper, paint, and traditional ceramics. The characterization was conducted with scanning electron microscopy, compression strength, particle-size distribution, x-ray diffraction, compressive and density tests. The results showed that the unconfined compressive strength improved from about 1.42 MPa for unstabilized samples, to 2.04 MPa for samples with 0.1 wt% of fibers, and 2.0 wt% molasses with respect to the dry weight of the soil. Furthermore, it was observed that soil microorganisms developed in some of the samples due to the organic nature of the molasses.
Highlights
The accumulation of end-of-life tires has become a worldwide problem with dramatic consequences for sustainability and with a trend to worsen due to the increasing demand of cars, with 1.4 billion tires produced annually across the world, which is equivalent to an amount of 17,000,000 tons/year of tires used [1]
The recycled tire polymer fibers (RTPF) were obtained from a tire recycling company located at Rionegro, Colombia
According the Unified Soil Classification System (USCS), the soil is a lean clay with sand (CL)
Summary
Academic Editor: Syed MinhajThe accumulation of end-of-life tires has become a worldwide problem with dramatic consequences for sustainability and with a trend to worsen due to the increasing demand of cars, with 1.4 billion tires produced annually across the world, which is equivalent to an amount of 17,000,000 tons/year of tires used [1]. In 2017 in the United States, 287.3 million tires were disposed of, corresponding to 4.7 million tons [2]. 61,000 tons of tires are annually disposed of [3], from which 18,861 tons are regenerated yearly in the capital city, Bogota [4]. In this city, 15,880 tons of tires were processed and reutilized between 2016 and 2018 [5]. Due to the high stresses in car tires under normal conditions, they are fabricated from rubber matrix reinforced by textile fibers and steel wires. Combining textile fibers and steel wires make tires resistant to biodegradation and give them high strength properties [6]
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