Swell Potential of Pulverized Coal Combustion Bottom Ash Amended with Sodium Bentonite
Publication: Journal of Energy Engineering
Volume 130, Issue 2
Abstract
Within the last decade several studies have been conducted to evaluate the geotechnical properties of bottom ash obtained from electric utilities burning pulverized coal amended with admixtures such as clay, bentonite, and lime. Most of these studies concentrated on evaluating strength and stiffness characteristics of the mixtures. Because of the high volume change characteristics of bentonite and clay, improper and/or excessive use of these admixtures can impart significant swelling characteristics to the mixtures. This study was conducted to evaluate the swelling properties of two bottom ash-bentonite mixtures compacted at various initial moisture contents. Results from this detailed investigation show that the swelling potential increased with the increase in bentonite content and decreased with the increase in initial moisture content. Mixtures with 20% bentonite were observed to have volume change characteristics that may not be suitable for some lightly loaded structures. Mixtures with 15% bentonite; compacted at initial moisture contents of 18% or higher; were observed to have less than 4% free swell, whereas for mixtures compacted at an initial moisture content of 16% or lower, the percent increase in free swell was observed to be greater than 7%.
Get full access to this article
View all available purchase options and get full access to this article.
References
Abeele, W. V.(1986). “The influence of bentonite on the permeability of sandy silts.” Nuclear Chem. Waste Manage., 6, 81–88.
Bentofix. (2003). 〈http://www.bentofix.com/naue/abe〉.
Chapuis, R. P.(1990). “Soil-bentonite liners: Predicting permeability from laboratory tests.” Can. Geotech. J., 27, 47–57.
Das, B. M., Selim, A. A., and Pfeifle, T. W. (1978). “Effective use of bottom ash as geotechnical material.” Proc., 5th UMR-DNR Conf. on Energy, Univ. of Missouri-Rolla, Mo.
Huang, W. H., and Lovell, C. W. (1990). “Bottom ash as an embankment material,” Geotechnics of waste fills—Theory and practice, ASTM STP 1070, Arvid Landva and G. David Knowles, eds., ASTM, West Conshohocken, Pa.
Huang, W. H., and Lovell, C. W. (1993). “Use of bottom ashes and slags in highway construction.” 4th Int. Symp. on the Reclamation, Treatment and Utilization of Coal Mining, 359–368.
Kalyoncu, R. S. (2003). “Coal combustion products.” United States Geological Survey Mineral Yearbook–2001, 19.1–19.5.
Kayabali, K., and Bulus, G.(2000). “The usability of bottom ash as an engineering material when amended with different matrices.” Eng. Geol. (Amsterdam), 56, 293–303.
Kumar, S., and Stewart, J.(2003a). “Evaluation of Illinois Pulverized Coal Combustion Dry Bottom Ash for Use in Geotechnical Engineering Applications.” J. Energy Eng., 129(2), 42–55.
Kumar, S., and Stewart, J.(2003b). “Utilization of Illinois PCC dry bottom ash in compacted landfill barriers.” Soil and Sedimentation Contamination, 12(2), 401–415.
Kumar, S., and Yong, W. (2002). “Effect of bentonite on compacted clay landfill barriers.” Soil Sedim. Contam., 11(1), 71–89.
Magistris, F., Silvestri, F., and Vinale, F.(1998). “Physical and mechanical properties of a compacted silty sand with low bentonite fraction.” Can. Geotech. J., 35, 909–929.
Mollins, L. H., Stewart, D. I., and Cousens, T. W.(1996). “Predicting the properties of bentonite-sand mixtures.” Clay Miner., 31, 243–252.
Mollins, L. H., Stewart, D. I., and Cousens, T. W.(1999). “Drained strength of bentonite-enhanced sand.” Geotechnique, 49(4), 523–528.
Odell, R. T., Thornburn, T. H., and McKenzie, L. J.(1960). “Relationships of Atterberg limits to some other properties of Illinois soils.” Proc. Soil Sci. Soc., 24(5), 297–300.
Pandian, N. S., Nagaraj, T. S., and Raju, P. S. R. N.(1995). “Permeability and compressibility behavior of bentonite-sand/soil mixes.” Geotech. Test. J., 18(1), 86–93.
Reade Advanced Materials. (2003). 〈http://www.reade.com/Products/Minerals_and_Ores/smectite.html〉.
Seals, R. K., Moulton, L. K., and Ruth, B. E.(1972). “Bottom ash—An engineering material.” J. Soil Mech. Found. Div., 98(4), 311–325.
Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Copyright
Copyright © 2004 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Sep 11, 2003
Accepted: Jan 20, 2004
Published online: Jul 15, 2004
Published in print: Aug 2004
Authors
Metrics & Citations
Metrics
Citations
Download citation
If you have the appropriate software installed, you can download article citation data to the citation manager of your choice. Simply select your manager software from the list below and click Download.