Effects of stabilizers on CO2 fixation capacity in neutralization of alkali construction sludge

Abstract

Construction sludge, generated from tunneling and piling, is typically in a liquid state. It can be improved via physical treatments, such as dehydration, and/or chemical treatments, using stabilizers, in order to to be recycled as construction material. To adjust the strength of sludge, chemical treatments are often preferred. However, chemical treatments frequently result in alkali leaching. Methods to reduce alkalinity by curing the alkaline sludge under CO2 gas at a certain concentration have been proposed in Japan. In recent years, technologies that utilize CO2 to improve the quality of cementitious material have received considerable attention in terms of carbon capture. Therefore, the effects of stabilizers on the CO2 fixation capacity of alkaline sludge during pH neutralization were investigated in this study. Accelerated carbonation and carbonate content measurement tests were conducted to detect the CO2 content fixed in alkaline sludge specimens treated with various stabilizers. The test results showed that the fixed maximum CO2 content per gram of dry mass of sludge, (mCO2)max, increased with the calcium oxide (CaO) content of the stabilizer(s) per gram of dry sludge, CCaO. However, the rate of increase in (mCO2)max with CCaO was significantly affected by the type of stabilizer used. In the case of quicklime (QL), the ratio of (mCO2)max to CCaO was approximately 0.5, whereas, in the cases of fly ash (FA) and steel slag (SS), the ratio was approximately 0.25. The ratios for biomass ash and paper sludge ash were between that for QL and that for FA and SS. Detailed analyses of the test results suggest that the CaO content per gram of stabilizer(s) in the sludge, C*CaO, can provide an estimate of the fixed maximum amount of CO2 per gram of stabilizer(s) in the sludge, (m*CO2)max. However, other factors, including the amount of water-soluble Ca, should be considered for a precise evaluation. Additionally, the experimental results showed that the decrease in pH owing to neutralization increases with the increasing CCaO. However, the type of stabilizer did not significantly affect the relationship between the degree of CO2 fixation and the degree of neutralization.