International Journal of Scientific & Engineering Research Volume 8, Issue 7, July-2017 777

ISSN 2229-5518

Soil Stabilization by Phosphogypsum: A Review

Shantanu Mehta, Mohammed Islamuddin Faraz, H. S. Goliya

Abstract— This paper aims to present the effect of Phosphogypsum on the stabilization of black cotton soils. Soil stabilization means the
improvement of stability or bearing capacity of soil by the use of controlled compaction; proportioning or the addition of suitable admixtures
or stabilizers. An excellent material found for mechanical stabilization of cohesive soil is Phosphogypsum. A need is existing for thorough
understanding of outcomes of various engineering tests when the Phosphogypsum is mixed with soil samples. Very few researchers have
been attracted by enhancing the soil properties by Phosphogypsum. Use of Phosphogypsum with soil can be a sustainable solution for its
disposal. The use of Phosphogypsum for stabilization approach is an economical and environmental settling the problems affiliated with its
disposal process.

Index Terms— Soil stabilization, black cotton soil, Phosphogypsum, Grain size distribution, SPT, CBR value, OMC, Maximum dry density.

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1 INTRODUCTION

I n recent decades, an increase is observed in standerds of

societydue to production of goods, services and job oppor-
ing of bricks, as aggregates, plaster boards, blocks, pavers,
mortars etc. However, their use in soil stabilization has recent-
tunities. On the other hand the disadvantage or shortcoming ly gained widespread acceptance with more and more indus-
of industrialization is generation of different kinds of industri- trial wastes being researched for their efficiency in modifying
al wastes. There exists a vast problem of the disposal and soil properties and serving as mechanical and chemical stabi-

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management of these industrial wastes. One of the steps for lizers. Some industrial wastes have also been used in geotech-
disposal of these wastes is to find different uses in the field of nical fill applications.
engineering and manufacturing. In recent years the usage of
these materials is experimented in the field of geotechnical Today we see that huge quantities of industrial wastes be-
engineering in soil stabilization. ing produced all around the world. It is estimated that cities
generate 1.3 billion tones of solid wastes on yearly basis. These
The most challenging soil in this field is probably the ex- volumes of wastes are increasing exponentially and according
pansive soils as they have low bearing capacity and poor shear to an estimate of World Bank (2012) this figure will reach 2.2
strength, more importantly these soils are vurnarable to swel- billion tones in 2025. The generation of Coal Combustion
ling and shrinkage on change in water or moisture content. Products (CCP) is estimated approximately to be 780 million
These soils pose a major challenge to engineers as they cause tons (2010 data). The largest producers of CCP are China 395
severe damage to the structures constructed on them. Such million tones, North America 118 million tones, India 105 mil-
kind of soils should be improved before construction is carried lion tones, Europe 52.6 million tones, Africa 31.1 million tones.
on them.
3 PHOSPHOGYPSUM PRODUCTION IN INDIA
Soil stabilization is the most commonly adopted measure Phosphogypsum is obtained from filtration process of
vto improve the bearing capacity of such low strength and phosphoric acid plants where efficient removal of insoluble
expansive soils. Traditionally the soil was used to be stabilized gypsum and other insolubilities are done. At an average of 4.5
only by binding materials such as cement and lime. But due to - 5 Tons of phosphogypsum (dry) is generated for every Ton
the serious problem of generation and disposal of solid waste of phosphoric acid (P2O5) recovered, depending upon the
as mentioned above there exist a need to find an effective way source of phosphate rocks.
out to get rid of these solid wastes generated from factories by
using them as stabilizers in expansive and low bearing capaci- The quality & amount of phosphogypsum generated de-
ty soil. These methods provide double advantage as they in- pends upon the process used to produce phosphoric acid,
crease the Bearing capacity of soils and at the same time these amount of calcium sulphate generated, and quality of the
methods also provide an effective and safe disposal of solid phosphate rock. Based on the assumption that about 5 Tons of
wastes. phosphogypsum is generated for every Ton of phosphoric
acid production it can be concluded that phosphogypsum
generation in the Country is about 11 Million Tons per annum.
2 SOLID WASTE PRODUCTION AROUND THE WORLD AND
IN INDIA Phosphogypsum is a damp, gray colored, fine grained
powder, silt or silty sand material. The maximum particle size
In the present scenario, utilization of industrial waste has of phosphogypsum ranges between 0.5 mm and 1.0 and max-
already been started and is increasing day by day at tremend- imum number of particles (i.e. about 50-75 %) are finer than
ous rate. Industrial waste is known to be used in manufactur- 0.075 mm. The specific gravity of phosphogypsum ranges
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International Journal of Scientific & Engineering Research Volume 8, Issue 7, July-2017 778
ISSN 2229-5518
from 2.3 to 2.6. and the maximum dry bulk density is about
1470 to 1670 kg/m3, based on Standard Proctor Compaction.
The gypsum cake, after filtration, usually has free moisture Ehsan Yaghoubi; Arul Arulrajah(2015) ; In this research,
content between 25 and 30%. Hemi-hydrate, in the presence of two types of recycled waste materials, RCA and polyethylene
free water will rapidly convert to di-hydrate and in the plastic blends (HDPE and LDPE), were evaluated for their
process, if left undisturbed will set into a relatively hard ce- stiffness and resilient characteristics. Because the polyethylene
mented mass and does not cause dust problem unless dis- plastics in this research were used in the form of granules in-
turbed. stead of reinforcing fibers, a slight degradation of Recycled
Concrete Aggregate (RCA) properties was observed.

4 ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACTS ASSOCIATED WITH Jinsong Qian; Guoxi Liang;(2015) The paper is to highlight
PHOSPHOGYPSUM DUMPING YARDS the influence of cement addition on laboratory characteriza-
tion of lateritic gravel and the feasibility of cement– lateritic
gravel for use in base construction, relatively comprehensive
Fresh & untreated Phosphogypsum is acidic in nature due
laboratory experiments were carried out on cement–lateritic
to residual phosphoric acid, hydrofluoric acid and sulphuric
gravels from République du Mali in Africa. It is shown, that
acid within the porous structure. Because of the acidic nature
although natural laterite gravels were gap-graded due to the
of fresh phosphogypsum it may keep trace elements dissolved
lack of sand-sized and silt-sized particles, the aggregate
from the phosphate rock in a potentially mobile state (i.e
breakdown and addition of cement would change the grada-
leachable form) and the impurities include sulphates, fluo-
tion and that the cement–lateritic gravel met the strength re-
rides, organics, residual acids, trace metals as well as naturally
quirement for base-course construction in Africa. However,
occurring radionuclides. The environmental concerns asso-
low contents of clay mineral properties of the fine grains in
ciated with phosphogypsum stacks are
lateritic gravel resulted in the ineffectiveness of the cement

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reactions between lateritic gravel and cement, and then ce-
• Fluoride uptake,
ment–lateritic gravels had poor water stability.
• Ground water pollution if located nearby.
• Surface water pollution if located nearby.
Nima Latifi, Suksun Horpibulsuk, (2015), Problematic soils
with high compressibility and low shear strength are often
Main factors contributing to their transport in the environ-
treated with traditional chemical stabilizing additives such as
ment are water and wind erosion, infiltration, leaching into
cement and lime to improve their engineering properties.
surface and ground water and airborne emissions of gaseous
These additives are generally recognized as having less than
and radioactive elements. Fine particles of phosphogypsum
ideal environmental impacts—in particular, the high quantity
can be picked up and transported by wind and vehicular traf-
of greenhouse gases that are generally created during their
fic on stacks into adjacent areas. Dust particles containing flu-
production. area analysis tests, and particle size analysis
oride is a concern for operational and non operational stacks.
(PSA) tests using a laser diffraction approach. From the results
Elevated levels of fluoride have been found in soil/vegetation
of the strength and compressibility testing, 1 and 1.5% xanthan
adjacent to the stacks.
gum contents were found to be optimum levels of additive use
for the montmorillonite and kaolinite clays, respectively.

Farshid Maghool; Arul Arulrajah; Suksun Horpibul-

5 LITERATURE REVIEW suk(2015); and Yan-Jun Du Steel is an inherently never-ending
product, in terms of recycling and reuse. The steelmaking
process creates an industrial by-product termed as slag. Ladle
Cheah Chee Ban., Dr.Eng. (2016);This study explored the
furnace slag (LFS) is produced at the final stages of the steel-
mechanical and durability performance of High Calcium
making process in ladle refining furnaces.
Wood Ash and Perfluoroxy alkaline hybrid HCWA-PFA geo-
polymer load bearing mortar blocks, which use a very low
Mohd Fadzil Arshad; Norazlan Khalid(2014) The suitable
amount of alkaline activator (i.e., maximum 5% of binder
optimum percentage of WPSA was determined about 10% to
weight), and under different curing regimes (lime-saturated
stabilize the sandy clay of high plasticity soils at the compres-
water curing and moist curing).
sive strength about 737kPa. This Class-C of WPSA can be used
in single additive without any combination of additives for
Paulo J. Venda Oliveira; Luís D. Freitas (2016) This work
pozzolanic reaction. The addition of 10% WPSA were in-
analyzes the effect of soil type on the process of enzymatic
creased the unconfined compressive strength of the clay soil
calcium carbonate (CaCO3) precipitation. This methodology is
until 28 days and this strength will get higher might be
tested for the stabilization of five soil types (poorly graded
beyond to 28 days. The addition of 10% WPSA were increased
sand, two silty sands, a silty soil, and an organic soil) in order
the CBR value about 1.5 times compared to control sample for
to examine the impact on strength and stiffness, based on the
unsoaked condition and 3.6 times compared to control sample
results of unconfined compression strength (UCS) and scan-
for soaked condition. The clay soil stabilized using Waste Pa-
ning electron.
per Sludge Ash WPSA considered effective to enhance clay
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 International Journal of Scientific & Engineering Research Volume 8, Issue 7, July-2017 779
ISSN 2229-5518
soil strength for long periods and to enhance the CBR value. • Solid wastes from industries should be encouraged
This will reduce the construction cost, reducing the conven- to be used as stabilizers instead of expansive chem-
tional additives such as lime and cement and solving disposal ical stabilization and cement or lime stabilization
problems and towards the green environmentally without which is comparatively expansive.
disposal materials. • From the above review it can also be concluded
that phosphogypsum and other such industrial
R Barani Dharan (2011) In this paper present investigation wastes can be disposed effectively by using it as a
is to assess the usefulness of industrial waste as a soil admix- stabilizer in soil at the same time it should also be
ture, and focused to improve the compressive strength of the emphasized that these wastes do not affect prod-
black cotton soil. Waste paper sludge ash Waste Paper Sludge uctivity of soil or should not pollute the under-
Ash (WPSA) is waste product from the Paper mill industries. ground water.
The WPSA can produce a cementitious material because • The use of Phosphogypsum as a soil stabilizer
WPSA contains a large amount of CaO while it is pozzolanic could solve the negative environmental impact on
material. WPSA is incinerated from waste paper sludge. In region as well as put an end to stacking huge quan-
this present study the soil sampling was done on 2 different tities of PG resulting from the phosphoric acid
sites as per IRC recommendations. The soils were classified as plant.
CH as per Indian Standard Classification System. Different
percentages of waste paper sludge ash i.e. 4%, 6%, 8%, 10 and
12% were used to stabilize the black cotton soil. The soil was
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