JOURNAL OF APPLIED SCIENCES RESEARCH

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JOURNAL OF APPLIED SCIENCES RESEARCH
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2014 May; 10(5): pages 393-399.
Published Online :15 January 2014
Research Article
Application of Synthesized Minerals from Bentonite on the Improvement of
Engineering Properties of Soil Materials
1
1
2
Ali I.M. Ismail, 2Eglal R. Souaya and 2Waleid I. Shelbaia
Geological Sciences Dept., National Research Centre, Dokki, Cairo, Egypt.
Chemistry Department, Faculty of Science, Ain Shams University, Abbassia, Cairo, Egypt.
Received: 12 November 2013; Revised: 14 December, 2013; Accepted: 20 December 2013.
© 2014
AENSI PUBLISHER All rights reserved
ABSTRACT
The research paper discusses the improvement of soil materials by the preparing zeolite from bentonite as low-cost adsorbent
materials. Evaluated applications include the efficiency of the studied raw materials and their synthesis products for the improvement of
engineering parameters of clay rich materials. The synthetic Na-P1 zeolite is investigated by powder X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis,
Scanning electron microscope (SEM) which attached with EDX Unit (Energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy). The stabilization and
modification of clay soil materials are detected as swelling and shrinkage limit decrease by the addition of various amount of the prepared
zeolite.
Key words: Soil stabilization, Bentonite, Zeolite Na-P1, Swelling, Shrinkage.
Introduction
One of the most important characteristic of
clayey soils is their ability to change their volume by
shrinking and swelling. These can give rise to ground
movements which may cause damage to buildings
and roads [1, 2] and may have to be stabilized. The
stabilization of the soils is making them suitable for a
particular engineering purpose [3-10].
The mechanism of swelling is complicated and
influence by a number of factors as types and amount
of clay minerals present in the soil, the soil structure,
the valence of exchangeable cations and specific
surface area of the clay [11]. When stabilizing agents
are added into a soil this results a rapid hydration
process and simultaneous cation exchange occur, as
well as, swelling and shrinking properties of these
soils improved through this stabilization [12]. In
recent studies micro porous material such zeolite
using as stabilizing agent by addition to the soil in
ratio 0-25% by weight of soil and decrease shrinkage
and swelling properties [13].
Clayey soils are known as “shrink-swell” soils in
which they shrink or expand as water drawn away or
adsorbed from moisture causes change in their
volume and variation in their moisture contents
which may result a considerable change in their
behavior as a reason for damage and cracking of
structure [13, 14]. This behavior is obviously
observed in presence of certain type of smectite clay
mineral known as Montmorillonite which has an
expanding lattice properties[15].The expanded soils
in different areas have different physical characters
and different engineering features due to difference
in components and environments [16]. The modified
clays are characterized by having a very small
particle size, high cation exchange capacity and a
large surface area [17-19].
Zeolites used as stabilized materials are micro
porous, hydrated crystalline aluminosilicates of the
alkaline and alkaline-earth metals with fully crosslinked open framework structures made up of corner
sharing SiO4 and AlO4 tetrahedral in which the
silicon (Si+4) and aluminum (Al+3) atoms are
tetrahedral connected to each other through shared
oxygen atom forming three-dimensional framework
in which every zeolite is constructed from tetrahedral
building block TO4 where T=tetrahedral co-ordinate
atom Si and Al [20, 21, 22]. In zeolite lattice
structure some Si+4 ions are replaced by Al+3 ions
generates a negative (-ve) charge which is located on
one oxygen anions connected to each aluminum
atom.
Several researchers have studied the removal
performance and selectivity sequence of heavy metal
ions by natural zeolites (clinoptilolite and
chabazite)[23-29].Also, removal of arsenic from
water can be using natural chabazite - phillipsite,
clinoptilolite[30, 31]. Synthetic Na-P, 4-A zeolite
and zeolite A and X types can also used for removal
of heavy metals, Natrolite-K zeolite also used as
heavy metal encapsulation[32-36].
Corresponding Author: Ali I.M. Ismail, Geological Sciences Dept., National Research Centre, Dokki, Cairo, Egypt.
394
Ali I.M. Ismail et al, 2014 /Journal Of Applied Sciences Research 10(5), May, Pages: 393-399
This study indicates minimal studies on the
stabilization of expansive soils in Egypt. Therefore,
this study was carried out to add new information to
the literature in this area and to investigate the
modification of anexpansive soils using synthetic
Na-P1 zeolite type on swelling and shrinkage
properties of expansive soils.
2. Determination of
Parameters of Soil:
Swelling
and
Shrinkage
Consistency limits data for all analysed samples
were determined. Liquid limit has been determined
using standard liquid limit device so called
“Casagrande” apparatus [37, 38]. According to (DIN
18122-1&18123-1)the liquid and plastic limits must
be determined on this part of the samples passing a
0.425 mm sieve. For the determination of the liquid
limit the multi point method has been used.
Linear shrinkage has been determined using
British Standards(BS 1377:1975, test 5) by mixing
the material passing through a 0.425 mm sieve with
distilled water at the liquid limit. The soil paste is
placed in a mould of 140 mm length and 12.5 mm
radius then the soil sample is air dried at 60°C until
the shrinkage can be clearly seen, then drying will be
completed at 105°C in (Table 2). The percentage of
linear shrinkage (LS) is calculated from the equation
given below:
LS = [1-(LD/L0)] * 100% (Where L0 = original
length (140 mm); LD = length of dry specimen).
The Free swell test procedure is defined by
British Standards [BS 1377:1975, free swell test]as
the increase in volume of soil when it is poured in
water in the form of loose dry sieved material
passing a 0.425 mm sieve.
The calculation of the free swell index by using
10 ml of dry loose powder is given in the following
equation (Table 2): [Free swell = ((V- 10) / 10 *
100% )]Where as V represents the recorded volume
of settled solids in ml[39-43].
3.
Bentonite Characteristics:
The bentonite samples used in this study were
collected from the area between 29° 32` N and 30°
52` E at Fayum area where they are found in the
form of a horizontal bed about 4-5 m thick with
hematite lenses and gypsum intercalation with
thickness about 10-15 cm, this bed is mainly covered
by about 50 cm weathering surface. The studied
bentonite was investigated according to Engineering,
Mineralogical and Chemical behavior by the
following tools; X-ray diffraction (XRD)using a
diffractometer BRUKUR D8 ADVANCE, CuK á
radiation (ã= 1.5405 Å), operated at 40Kv and 40
mA and scanned at a rate of 20 min-1, X-ray
fluorescence (XRF), Scanning electron microscope
(SEM)using SEM Model Philips XL 30 attached
with EDX Unit, with accelerating voltage 30 K.V.,
magnification 10 xs up to 400.000x and resolution
for W. (3.5nm).
Table 1: Chemical analysis of bentonite which is used in this study.
Oxide
SiO2
Al2O3
K2O
CaO
TiO2
MnO
Fe2O3
Na2O
MgO
P2O5
SO3
Content %
51.57
20.60
1.10
0.51
1.21
0.012
2.60
0.76
1.51
0.04
1.12
The analyzed oxides using XRF technique are SiO2, Al2O3, Na2O, CaO, K2O, MgO, Fe2O3, TiO2, MnO, P2O5 and SO3 (Table 1).
4. Preparation of Na-P1
RichMaterial (Bentonite):
Zeolite
FromClay
Experimental procedure of zeolite synthesis was
studied using alkali attack NaOH as abasic medium
during hydrothermal treatment method by placing
2gm of bentonite sample in Teflon reactor and
addition of 25ml of 1M NaOH solution sealed and
stirred at 60°C for about 12h then placed in
conventional oven at temperature 80°C as
crystallization temperature for 7 days as aging
period, after the hydrothermal process is completed
the reacting solution was decanted and samples were
washed several times using distilled water until pH
reach to 7-8 using centrifuge and then dry it in oven
at 60-70°C.
5. Characterization of Raw Material and Obtained
Zeolite:
The mineral phases present in the clay sample
(bentonite) and it‟szeolitic product were identified by
X-ray diffraction (XRD) .The condition for
diffraction from planes with spacing "d" is given by
L.O.I
17.00
Bragg's Law: n λ=2d sin (θ), where “θ” is the angle
between the atomic planes and the incident X-ray
beam. Resultant diffraction pattern can be used to
identify unknown crystalline phases, determine
residual stresses, preferred orientation or grain size.
Morphology of the solid sample could be seen
through the use of scanning electron microscope
(SEM),Shape and size of the crystalline solid phase
could be identified from their micrographs using
SEM with energy-dispersive x-ray (EDX)
spectroscopy.
Results and Discussion
6.1.Geo-Engineering Characteristics of Bentonite
Identification and Synthesis of Zeolite Na-P1 :
The X-ray diffraction was carried out for bulk
sample to investigate the mainmineralogical
composition. The X-ray diffraction pattern (Fig.1) of
the natural bentonitic clay sample indicating
montmorillonite, kaolinite, illite as clay minerals and
quartz as non-clay componentby scanning with an
electron probe across a specimen, high resolution
395
Ali I.M. Ismail et al, 2014 /Journal Of Applied Sciences Research 10(5), May, Pages: 393-399
images of the morphology or topography of a
specimen at various magnifications can be obtained.
Thereby details of the distribution and concentration
of elements can be obtained. By comparison the
relative concentrations of the elements with the
crystal morphology, the chemical formula of a
suspected mineral may be derived.Montmorillonite
clay minerals occur as minute particles which under
scanning electron microscopy (SEM), appears as
aggregates of irregular flakes or less commonly of
thin laths (Figure 2).
Fig. 1: XRD chart of bentonite.
Fig. 2: SEM micrograph of flaky to thin laths of montmorillonite and illite.
The liquid and plastic limits of the sample
materials were determined according to German
Standards Classification (DIN 18122-1) where the
Table 2: Engineering parameters of bentonite under investigation.
Sample No.
Moisture
Liquid
Plastic
Plasticity
content
limit
limit
index
1
4.536
73.9
32.5
41.5
2
4.648
73.6
31.9
41.7
3
4.237
81.7
29.0
52.7
Average
4.4737
76.4
31.13
45.30
data of liquid limit (wL), plastic limit (wP), plasticity
index (IP) as well as natural moisture content (w) for
the studied bentonitesamples recorded in Table 2.
Shrinkage
limit
15. 028
16. 042
15. 207
15. 43
Swelling
sand
silt
clay
107
85
117
103
0.07
3.53
3.4
2.33
38.97
22.1
18.44
26.50
60.96
74.37
78.16
71.16
396
Ali I.M. Ismail et al, 2014 /Journal Of Applied Sciences Research 10(5), May, Pages: 393-399
In this study Na-P1 zeolite with chemical
formula (Na Al Si O .12H O) synthesized from
6 6 10 32
2
natural source bentonite clay material under
hydrothermal treatment method using 1M NaOH and
Zeolitization process occurs at the temperature 80 °C
for 7 days as aging periods showing that zeolite NaP1 peak appear, it‟s observed that from figure 3. Na-
P1 zeolite predominantly as a unique sole and high
purity crystalline phase.
The SEM micrographs of the product of the
zeolitization processes show that the original
bentonite particles were completely destructed by
theattack of 1M sodium hydroxide solution after 7
days aging periods at crystallization temperature 80
°C as athe formationof polycrystalline aggregates of
Na-P1 zeolite with exhibit wormy texture (Figure 4).
Fig. 3: X-Ray diffraction diagram of zeolite Na-P1formed from bentonite using 1M NaOH at temperature 80 °C
for 7 days as aging period.
Fig. 4: SEM of synthesized Na-P1formed from bentonite using 1M NaOH at temperature 80 °C for 7 days as
aging period and spot EDX analysis of Na-P1 zeolite.
397
Ali I.M. Ismail et al, 2014 /Journal Of Applied Sciences Research 10(5), May, Pages: 393-399
6.2. Improvement of the Engineering Properties of
the Soil Materials using Na-P1 Zeolite:
Soft cohesive clay soils are normally associated
with large settlement, swelling-shrinkage and low
strength. Various techniques are available to reduce
the problem for example modification of the
engineering properties of soil materials by the
additives. The stabilization techniques make the soil
workable for construction and allow them to increase
in strength and decrease both swelling and shrinkage
by pozzolanic reactions between the additives and
clay minerals. The addition of zeolite P1 has a
pronounced effect on its physical and engineering
properties. A series of laboratory tests has been
carried out to investigate the effect of zeolite on the
performance of stabilization. Swelling and shrinkage
of the studied soil and soil/zeolite P1 addition have
carried out using standard specification BS (13771975) and DIN (18123) respectively. The lower
value of swelling and shrinkage (Table3 and Figure
5) indicates that zeolite P1 is an effective in the
stabilization of soil materials under road base or
under foundation.
Table 3: Show laboratory tests of Na-P1zeolite dosage on soil properties.
Stabilizer (%)
Swelling (%)
0
250
5
80
10
40
15
15
20
10
Linear Shrinkage (%)
20
12
10
8
5
Fig. 5: The effect of Na-P1 zeolite additives on swelling and shrinkage properties of soil.
7. Conclusion:
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