Shear Strength Enhancement of Soil Mixed with Palm Oil Clinker

Abstract

Palm oil has been a major industry that contributed to Malaysia’s economic growth since quite a long time. Approximately, 23% of the 5.8 million hectares of Malaysia oil palm plantations are certified with Malaysian Sustainable Palm Oil (MSPO) certificate. However, there are still a huge number of plant oil plantations that have not been shifting towards sustainable palm oil consumption and production. Palm oil industry is normally being associated with negative impacts such as deforestation which resulted to the loss of wildlife as well as haze issue that imposed health risks to the communities. Beside that, the uncontrolled dumping of palm oil waste (palm oil clinker) is also causing a big problem. Palm oil clinker is a waste by-product from the processing stages of palm oil industry. Recycling the material into construction industry may help to promote sustainability and solving waste disposal issues. In this research, palm oil clinker was mixed randomly in soft soil. Raw palm oil clinker was taken from the nearby palm oil factory. The palm oil clinker as well as the soft soil was tested for its basic properties (particle size, specific gravity and soil consistencies). Furthermore, several number of soil sample were prepared, and each of the sample was mixed with fine grain size of palm oil clinker in several proportions. All the sample mixtures were tested by using unconfined compression test (BS 1377-7:1990). Enhancement of the soft soil’s shear strength after been added with palm oil clinker was investigated and compared. It is found that the addition on palm oil clinker into soft soil is able to improve the shear strength of the soil. This study hopes to give some alternatives to the utilization of palm oil clinker in geotechnical engineering field. Previous researches by other researchers were conducted in utilizing the lightweight properties of the palm oil clinker (as aggregate replacement) to produce a lightweight structure. Recycling such waste in several civil engineering fields may help to preserve environment and contribute to sustainable industry.