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ISSN 2320 6020

IJBSTR RESEARCH PAPER VOL 1 [ISSUE 8] AUGUST 2013

Paper Mill Sludge Utilization in Ground Improvement


Sanni Kumar and S. M. Ali Jawaid*
ABSTRACT: The sludge formed in paper mill is normally recycled before disposal in landfill. Land for contraction of landfill is
now fancy. In this paper, attempts are made to utilize the same for the formation of sand drain. Sludge is mixed with soil, lime and
cement and experimental result were obtained. The maximum dry density (MDD) optimum moisture content (OMC) obtained by
the proctor compaction test become the bench mark for determining the required of compaction. Laboratory permeability test were
also conducted which established its use in sand drain.
KEY WORDS: Water content, Organic content, Specific gravity, Optimum mix percentage, Consolidation, Consolidation
analysis of soil and Consolidation analysis of mix

1.

INTRODUCTION

2.

Industrial waste management is a complex and challenging


problem faced by the engineers world over with the
development of industrial and new product. The quantity
and complexity of waste generated has increased alarmingly.
During last 30 years, the capacity of nations to produces,
consume and discard waste has grown dramatically
requiring innovative techniques of management of
complicated and varying nature of wastes. The waste
disposal problem is being faced by developed as well as
undeveloped countries.
The objective of this research is find the economical way to
use the paper sludge in ground improvements and drain is
one of the methods of ground improvement. Sand drain is
used to expedite the consolidation. Our aim is to find the
alternate for to be used in sand drain in order to reduce the
cost.
In this study, the paper sludge is mixed soil, lime and
cement and the experiments results are obtained.
The maximum dry density (MDD) optimum moisture
content (OMC) obtained by the proctor compaction test
because the bench mark for determining the quality of
compaction.
The outcome of this research will provide us an alternative
method for utilization of paper mill sludge. To achieve these
goals various laboratory investigations were conducted and
result was obtained.

WATER CONTENT, ORGANIC CONTENT AND


SPECIFIC GRAVITY

The water content is determined according to American


society for testing materials (ASTM) procedure D2974. The
oven temperatures are 1050C to 700C to avoid burning off
some of the organics. The range of the initial water content
of the sludge used in this study is summarized in table 1.
Water content range from 88% to 130% various sludge.
Tests were performed on the sludge according to ASTM
procedure D2974 method C for obtaining organic content. A
muffle furnace was used to burn off the organic at 4400C at
temperature. Sludge with greater organic contents are
capable of higher water content and void ratios, and will be
more summarized in Table 1.
Specific gravity test were performed on the sludge according
to ASTM procedure to paper sludge (La Plante 1993).[2] An
aspirator was used to remove the entrapped air from the
sample. Boiling the sample was avoided to reduce possible
thermal reaction from occurring and giving poor results.
The sludge sample were taken at their natural water content
and soaked in water for an hour before pulverization, since,
upon drying, the sludge sample formed flocks, developed a
coarse texture, and were not easily pulverized. [3] This
behaviour was noted by Wang et al. (1991) for a water plant
sludge. Test result summarized in Table 1.
Table 1: Water Content, Organic Content and Specific
Gravity

Author: Sanni Kumar is currently pursuing master of


technology program in environmental engineering in
MMM. Engg. College, Gorakhpur India,
E-mail: sanni06bt@gmail.com
*Co-Author: S.M. Ali Jawaid is currently Associate
Professor in MMM. Engg. College, Gorakhpur India,
E-mail: smaj@rediffmail.com

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ISSN 2320 6020

IJBSTR RESEARCH PAPER VOL 1 [ISSUE 8] AUGUST 2013


3.

SELECTION OF OPTIMUM MIX PERCENTAGES

Various different mixes were prepared and various tests


were carried out e.g. OMC, MDD and Permeability was in
the lab. The results were summarised in table 2. Table 2
shows that if we increase the percentage of paper sludge
then permeability decreases for mixture of 90 % paper
sludge with soil, the MDD decreases to 0.852 g/cc which is
below then the density of water hence is not appropriate to
use this as it might become suspension leading to problem of
stability .
Table 2: Variation of OMC, MDD & Permeability with
Paper Mill Sludge % (PMS)

Fig. 2: Percentage of mix Vs. MDD (g/cc)

Fig.1: Percentage of mix Vs. Moisture content %

Fig. 3: Mix % vs. Permeability

3.1. Discussion
Based on earlier discussion, it is decided to select of mix of
soil with paper mill sludge (PMS), as also the permeability
resembled to that of sand. The value of MDD was in limit of
1.12 and could be used as replacement of sand in sand drain
work. And we carried our further research on consolidation
taking that mix percentage mix.
4. CONSOLIDATION BEHAVIOUR OF SOIL AND
PAPER MILL SLUDGE MIX
Figure 4 and 5 shows the consolidation behaviour of soil and
soil mixed with PMS.It is found that Cc(coefficient of
curvature) is around 0.086519 and 0.19028 for

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IJBSTR RESEARCH PAPER VOL 1 [ISSUE 8] AUGUST 2013


Soil + PMS. Thus, it is clear that mix rate of consolidation of
soil + PMS is more than soil.

Fig. 4: consolidation curve of soil


From our experimental analysis we also observed that initial
consolidation is quite high in mix than in soil this may be
because of paper sludge is compose of fibres and dissipates
pore water more rapidly as for as primary consolidation goes
it has been observed that paper sludge continues to
consolidated more rapidly.

5. CONCLUSION
The results obtained in the experiments shows that the paper
sludge can be used in place of sand. Paper mill sludge are
characterized by a high water content, high compressibility
and large amount of organic fibers in the matrix. The
experiments performed clearly indicate that the permeability
of paper sludge mixture (sludge+ soil) is 1.01x 10-3. The
density of water is 1 g /cc and that of mixture (sludge+ soil)
is 1.12g/which is higher than the water.
When compacted, it reaches optimum water content of about
110%and a maximum dry unit weight of 5:3 kN/m3. To
obtain its minimum hydraulic conductivity (approximately
10-9 m/s), the sludge must be compacted at water contents of
approximately5080% wet of optimum, because such a
material is ideal for use in fluid-containment barriers, such
as liners. Compacted paper mill sludge is shown to be a
material that full fills an old dream of the geotechnical
engineers of a ductile material with reduced hydraulic
conductivity, with high shear strength, and available at a low
cost (paper mill sludge is a by-product of paper recycling
process) that could have multiple applications, such as in the
construction of bottom liners, cover liners, and steep sideslope liners for solid waste landfills.

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Fig.5: Consolidation curve of mix

6.

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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Consolidation

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