Armistead, S.J., Rawlings, A.E., Smith, C.C. orcid.org/0000-0002-0611-9227 et al. (1 more author) (2020) Biopolymer stabilization/solidification of soils : a rapid, micro-macro, cross-disciplinary approach. Environmental Science & Technology, 54 (21). pp. 13963-13972. ISSN 0013-936X
Abstract
In this study, we describe a novel high throughput, micro-macro approach for the identification and efficient design of biopolymer stabilized soil systems. At the “microscopic” scale, we propose a rapid Membrane Enabled Bio-Mineral Affinity Screening (MEBAS) approach supported by Mineral Binding Characterization (MBC) (TGA, ATR-FTIR and ζ Potential), while at the “macroscopic” scale, micro scale results are confirmed by Geotechnical Verification (GV) through unconfined compression testing. We illustrate the methodology using an exemplar mine tailings Fe2O3–SiO2 system. Five different biopolymers were tested against Fe2O3: locust bean gum, guar gum, gellan gum, xanthan gum, and sodium carboxymethyl cellulose. The screening revealed that locust bean gum and guar gum have the highest affinity for Fe2O3, which was confirmed by MBC and in agreement with GV. This affinity is attributed to the biopolymer’s ability to form covalent C–O–Fe bonds through β-(1,4)-d-mannan groups. Upon their 1% addition to a “macroscopic” Fe2O3 based exemplar MT system, unconfined compressive strengths of 5171 and 3848 kPa were obtained, significantly higher than those for the other biopolymers and non-Fe systems. In the current study, MEBAS gave an approximately 50-fold increase in rate of assessment compared to GV alone. Application of the proposed MEBAS–MBC-GV approach to a broad range of soil/earthwork components and additives is discussed.
Metadata
Item Type: | Article |
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Authors/Creators: |
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Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information: | © 2020 American Chemical Society. This is an author-produced version of a paper subsequently published in Environmental Science and Technology. Uploaded in accordance with the publisher's self-archiving policy. |
Keywords: | biomineral; biopolymer; guar gum; iron oxide; locust bean gum; micro-macro; mine tailings; solidification; stabilization |
Dates: |
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Institution: | The University of Sheffield |
Academic Units: | The University of Sheffield > Faculty of Engineering (Sheffield) > Department of Civil and Structural Engineering (Sheffield) The University of Sheffield > Faculty of Science (Sheffield) > Department of Chemistry (Sheffield) |
Depositing User: | Symplectic Sheffield |
Date Deposited: | 03 Nov 2020 07:54 |
Last Modified: | 09 Feb 2022 07:54 |
Status: | Published |
Publisher: | American Chemical Society (ACS) |
Refereed: | Yes |
Identification Number: | 10.1021/acs.est.0c02001 |
Related URLs: | |
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:167576 |