Lignin with and without Polymerization for Soil Stabilization
Publication: Journal of Materials in Civil Engineering
Volume 31, Issue 12
Abstract
This study explores the possibility of using alkali lignin as a soil stabilizer as well as the possibility of polymerizing alkali lignin to further improve its performance. The polymerization involves cross-linking phenoxy radicals of lignin precursors to form longer molecular chains in the presence of laccase as a catalyst. In this study, soil was treated with different lignin contents (8%, 10%, and 12%) under different water/lignin ratios (0.4, 0.6, 0.8, and 1.0) and then cured in air or heat for various durations (4, 7, 14, and 21 days). Specimens treated by lignin and polymerized lignin were tested to determine the unconfined compression strength (UCS). For the specimens treated by lignin, the results showed that a higher lignin content can improve the UCS if the specimens were cured in the air, and heat curing can improve the strength by more than 40% compared with the ones cured in the air. The tests indicated that excessive lignin content would cause bleeding that prevented further increase of the strength. Moisture was identified as a main factor causing loss of strength of the treated specimens. Polymerization appears to be an effective approach to further improve the strength. Polymerization decreased the hydrophilicity and increased the length of molecular chains, which greatly enhanced the strength of treated soil. According to the results, a combination of polymerization and heat curing would provide the highest strength, which was approximately 10 times higher than the ones treated with regular lignin and cured in air.
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Data Availability Statement
Some or all data, models, or code generated or used during the study are available from the corresponding author by request. (Figs. 11–15, 17, 18, and 8).
Acknowledgments
The laccase enzyme used for lignin polymerization was offered by Novozymes A/S. Support from Greg DeLozier, who is the Technical Service Manager of Noyozymes A/S and suggested the process of lignin polymerization, is gratefully acknowledged. The GREAT program of UTSA partially provided student support for this study.
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Published In
Journal of Materials in Civil Engineering
Volume 31 • Issue 12 • December 2019
Copyright
©2019 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Nov 1, 2018
Accepted: Jun 4, 2019
Published online: Sep 19, 2019
Published in print: Dec 1, 2019
Discussion open until: Feb 19, 2020
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