Transportation Geotechnics 3 (2015) 24–35

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Transportation Geotechnics
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/trgeo

Stabilization of clayey soil using ultrafine palm oil fuel ash

(POFA) and cement
Shahram Pourakbar a,⇑, Afshin Asadi b, Bujang B.K. Huat a,
Mohammad Hamed Fasihnikoutalab a,b
a
Department of Civil Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Universiti Putra Malaysia, 43400 Serdang, Selangor Darul Ehsan, Malaysia
b
Housing Research Centre, Faculty of Engineering, Universiti Putra Malaysia, 43400 Serdang, Selangor Darul Ehsan, Malaysia

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: Palm oil fuel ash (POFA) in both cost-effective and environmentally friendly ways has
Received 8 October 2014 potential applications in soft soil stabilization. This study investigates the possible uses
Revised 5 January 2015 of POFA (individually and in combination with cement) on several basic characteristics
Accepted 29 January 2015
of clayey soil behavior, such as proctor compaction, Atterberg limit, and unconfined com-
Available online 7 February 2015
pression strength (UCS). These properties are compared with those of unstabilized clay and
stabilized clay with cement. Scanning electron microscopy with X-ray microanalysis is
Keywords:
conducted on untreated and treated soil to elucidate their strength development, and
Soil stabilization
Palm oil fuel ash
the observed test results are then explained. Findings show that POFA and POFA/cement
Clayey soil mixture treatments result in significant reductions in the soil plasticity index (PI). The
results of the compaction test indicate that the utilization of POFA and POFA/cement mix-
ture in soft soil stabilization decreases the optimum moisture content and increases the
maximum dry density across selected binder dosages. The results show that using POFA
alone to stabilize clayey soil results in a slight increase in the UCS of the specimens until
the 28 days of curing, whereas combining POFA with cement results in a sharp increase
in the UCS of the samples in the same curing time. The results demonstrate the environ-
mental, technological, and economic advantages of utilizing this well known agricultural
waste as a partial substitute for cement in stabilizing soils, particularly soft soils that usu-
ally demand high quantities of stabilizer to reach satisfactory results.
Ó 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Introduction compressibility, poor workability and bearing capacity

The construction of structures on soft clay soils is a
challenging task and therefore considered as one of
the biggest concerns in geotechnical engineering. The
utilization of soft soils in tropical regions is currently
low, although construction on them has become
increasingly necessary due to economic reasons. These
types of soils are generally characterized by low undrained
shear strength (less than 25 kPa), extremely high
⇑ Corresponding author.
(Tingle and Santoni, 2003).
Soil stabilization can be a beneficial method in treating
the chemical and physical features of soft soils with differ-
ent additives (Sabih et al., 2011). Given its robustness and
easy adaptability, stabilizing soft soils by incorporating tra-
ditional calcium-based stabilizers in this method has
become increasingly popular (Akpokodje, 1985; Miura
et al., 2001; Prusinski and Bhattacharja, 1999). However,
the traditional cementitious stabilizers like cement are
under discussion, not only for their negative environmen-
tal effects during manufacture but also for their cost.

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.trgeo.2015.01.002
2214-3912/Ó 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
 S. Pourakbar et al. / Transportation Geotechnics 3 (2015) 24–35
Palm oil fuel ash (POFA) is one of the most abundantly
produced waste materials in tropical regions which has a
strong potential to treat physicochemical characteristics
of soft soils due to its amorphous nature and high silica
content. POFA is widely produced by the oil palm industry
owning to the burning of empty fruit bunches (EFB), fiber
and palm oil shells (POS) as fuel to generate electricity
and the waste, collected as ash, becomes POFA.
Hypothetically, the large amount of amorphous silica in
POFA potentially contributes to the pozzolanic reaction dur-
ing hydration, which results in cementitious compounds
called calcium aluminate hydrates (CAH) and calcium sili-
cate hydrates (CSH). These compounds are responsible for
improving the engineering characteristics of soils that
increase over time as the pozzolanic reaction develops
(Seco et al., 2012). The potential is further strengthened
and driven by the insight that oil constitutes only 10% of
the palm production, while the rest of 90% is the residue
(Foo and Hameed, 2009). For example, approximately 3 mil-
lion tons of POFA were generated in Malaysia in 2007,
whereas approximately 0.1 million tons of POFA are gener-
ated on an annual basis in Thailand (Al-mulali et al., 2015;
Chiew et al., 2011). Given that open burning is no longer per-
mitted (Yusoff, 2006), this residue is disposed of in landfills
and consequently cause environmental problems such as air
pollution and groundwater quality issues because of the
leaching of different metals from the ash (Madurwar et al.,
2013). As such, the search for suitable methods of using
and consuming this well known agro-waste in civil engi-
neering applications (i.e., ground improvement) is a valid,
rational, and important task in agricultural countries that
generate such type of waste.
The POFA revolution in structural science has attracted
much attention mainly because of its abundant accessibility
and low profitable commercial value. A large and growing
body of literature has investigated utilizing POFA as a sup-
plementary cementitious material in producing high-
strength concrete in the last ten years (Awal and Nguong,
2010; Hussin et al., 2009; Chindaprasirt et al., 2007; Awal
and Abubakar, 2011; Johari et al., 2012). Extensive research
findings show that utilizing this type waste as construction
material has significant environmental benefits, including
the following (Awal and Nguong, 2010; Johari et al., 2012;
Awal and Hussin, 2011; Tangchirapat et al., 2007):
(1) increase in the life of structures because of the high
durability of POFA,
(2) reduction in energy use, greenhouse gases, and
adverse air emissions, when manufactured cement
is replaced with POFA, and
(3) reduction in the amount of palm oil residues that
should be disposed in landfills.
Several studies have also validated on different occa-
sions the benefits of using POFA, instead of asphalt, as pri-
mary road material (Ndoke, 2006; Amu et al., 2008). Ismail
and Keok (Ismail and Keok, 2010) also produced bricks
with satisfactory strength using POFA and paper sludge.
From the geotechnical and geoenvironmental perspectives,
Brown et al. (2011) reported that clayey soils treated with
POFA as landfill liner exhibit an increase in optimum
25
moisture water content despite a decrease in maximum
dry density.
A review of the literature reveals that not much effort
has been exerted in the past to evaluate the efficacy of
POFA-stabilized soils, particularly soft soils that usually
demand high quantities of stabilizer to reach satisfactory
results. Framed by this context, the present study explores
the possible use of POFA in stabilizing soft clayey soils
under appropriate conditions.
The influence of different percentages of POFA and
POFA/cement mixtures on the index properties, com-
paction, and unconfined compression strength (UCS) of
selected clayey soil was investigated for the above pur-
pose. Also, the microstructural changes of clayey soil
before and after the treatment were investigated to deter-
mine the underlying stabilization mechanisms with the aid
of energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS) and scan-
ning electron microscopy (SEM) analyses. This study con-
tributes to the reduction in the environmental impact of
POFA and recommends a practical work range in utilizing
this residue in ground improvement applications to reduce
the settlement of foundations, prevent shear deformation,
and mitigate liquefaction.
Experimental investigation
Materials used
Soil
The physical properties and chemical composition of
clayey soil used in this experiment are listed in Tables 1
and 2 respectively. Also, the grain size distribution of
clayey soil is illustrated in Fig. 1. The investigated clayey
soil is classified as high-plasticity clay (CH) according to
the Unified Soil Classification System. This type of soil is
often too soft and weak to support the upper infrastructure
of construction projects, which makes it an excellent and
challenging type of host soil for soil stabilization.
Palm oil fuel ash
The POFA used in this study was collected from a facto-
ry in Johor in the southern state of Malaysia. Raw POFA is
unusable because of its unknown moisture content,
uncombusted palm fibers, large particle size, and residual
carbon (i.e., the major impurity of POFA). Thus, two steps
were undertaken to treat POFA before its use as soil stabi-
lizer. In the first step, after drying it inside oven for 24 h,
well-dried ash was sieved using a 600 lm (No. 25) sieve
to remove nutshells and fibers which were incompletely
combusted. The POFA was then ground in a ball mill for
24 h and then passed through a 125 lm (No. 120) sieve.
Different ball sizes in the range of 30–12 mm were used
with three mills diameter of 80 cm as illustrated in Fig. 2.
The mill speed was 60 RPM (around 65% of critical speed).
This process effectively achieved a high specific surface
and good pozzolanic reaction between the soil and POFA.
The higher the specific surface is, the more rapidly the bin-
der reacts. This explanation is similar to that reported by
Janz and Johansson (Janz and Johansson, 2002), in which
the reactivity of a stabilizer is largely evaluated by its
26 S. Pourakbar et al. / Transportation Geotechnics 3 (2015) 24–35

Table 1 step of the treatment process to remove the excessive

Physical characteristics of clayey soil. unburned carbon that can affect the potential pozzolanic
Parameters Standard Natural soil properties. The ground POFA was heated in this step at
Specific gravity (Gs) BS 1377-2 2.60 440 °C for approximately 2 h in an electric furnace at a
heating rate of 15 °C/min. The treated POFA was then
Atterberg limits
Liquid limit (%) BS 1377-1 60.24 cooled naturally in air to ambient temperature, and the
Plastic limit (%) BS 1377-1 30.11 amount of unburned carbon was measured using a total
Plasticity index (%) BS 1377-1 30.13 carbon analyzer. This process is similar to that described
Proctor test by Tangchirapat et al. (2007). The result showed that the
Optimum water content (%) BS 1377-1990-4 29 LOI of ground POFA after pre-treatment process decreased
Maximum dry density BS 1377-1990-4 1.29 to around 1.5%.
(Mg/m3)
The chemical analyses of the ground POFA before and
Shear strength after the pre-treatment process are reviewed in Table 3.
Unconfined compression BS 1377-1990-7 80-90
strength (kPa)
Chemical analysis was performed using the XRF method.
Table 3 shows that the sum of the three main pozzolanic
oxide compounds (i.e., Fe2O3, Al2O3, and SiO2) in the
ground POFA before and after heating were 66.5% and
71.24% of the total oxide compounds, respectively. Accord-
Table 2 ing to ASTM C 618, the pozzolanic material must contain a
Chemical composition of clayey soil.
minimum of 70% of the total amount of the three main oxi-
Chemical composition Natural soil (%) des (i.e., Fe2O3, Al2O3, and SiO2). Such evidence confirms
Silica (SiO2) 61.98 the suitability of the treated POFA as a pozzolanic additive
Alumina (Al2O3) 28.35 in ground improvement applications.
Iron oxide (Fe2O3) 1.8
Calcium oxide (CaO) 0.2
Cement
Potash (K2O) 6.67
Magnesia (MgO) 0.5 Locally made Malaysian cement was used to provide a
favorable environment for further pozzolanic reaction.
Cement generally contains approximately 5% gypsum. It
is ground until the particle size ranges from 1 lm to
fineness, which is normally expressed as the specific sur- 100 lm and the specific surface ranges from 320 m2/kg
face. The grain size distribution of the POFA before and to 520 m2/kg. Table 3 presents the chemical composition
after grinding process is illustrated in Fig. 1. A laser diffrac- of cement based on the XRF study using ASTM C 311. When
tion particle size analyzer was used to determine particle the pore water of the soil encounters cement, cement
size distribution and mean particle size. Fig. 1 shows the hydration generally occurs rapidly, and the major hydra-
particle size distribution of the ground POFA with which tion (primary cementitious) produces primary calcium sili-
around 90% of the particles is less than 125 lm and mean cate hydrates (CSH, CAH) and hydrated lime Ca (OH)2.
particle size (D50) of 21.89 lm.
The value of loss on ignition (LOI) of collected POFA is Laboratory test
about 9.68%, which is considered high. This value of LOI
shows that a high quantity of organic matter was not A series of laboratory tests consisting of the Atterberg
burned thoroughly during the incineration process. The limit, compaction, and UCS was undertaken using different
heating process was therefore undertaken as the second dosages of the POFA and POFA/cement admixtures.

Fig. 1. Grain size distribution curve of the natural soil and POFA after pre-treatment process.
 S. Pourakbar et al. / Transportation Geotechnics 3 (2015) 24–35 27

Fig. 2. The process of ball milling POFA.

Table 3 compaction. Secondly, host soil was mixed with the prede-
Physicochemical composition of cement and POFA (before and after pre- termined quantity of stabilizers and the tests were repeat-
treatment).
ed in this case.
Constituent Natural POFA Treated POFA Cement For mixing purpose, the host soil and stabilizers were
Physical properties mixed thoroughly until they achieved a uniform color.
Specific gravity (Gs) 1.89 2.13 3.12 Water was added as needed to facilitate the mixing and
Chemical composition compaction processes. Compaction was then performed
Silica (SiO2) 41.042% 44.78% 20.12% immediately after mixing because any delay results in
Alumina (Al2O3) 19.391% 19.29% 4.80% the formation of many voids in the completed specimens,
Iron oxide (Fe2O3) 6.10% 7.17% –
which lowers the unit weight.
Calcium oxide (CaO) 18.874% 17.93% 65.7%
Potash (K2O) 8.615% 7.79% –
Magnesia (MgO) – – 5.4%
Atterberg limits tests
Loss on ignition 9.68% 1.5% 1.55%
Liquid limit (LL) and plastic limit (PL) tests were per-
formed to assess the effects of the POFA and cement-POFA
combinations on the physical properties of clayey soil.
Induced microstructural changes were also traced with the After mixing, the specimens were cured in a plastic cov-
aid of EDS and SEM analyses to further elaborate the er for a day, air dried, pulverized, and passed through a
results. 425 lm test sieve. The LL and PL tests were then conducted
In this study also some additional mixtures were pre- in accordance with British standard methods (BS 1377:
pared with cement alone for comparative purposes, though Part 2) Standard, 1377. The LL and PL tests of the treated
it was predicted that the results would be poor because of specimens were determined after 24 h as commonly per-
lack of homogeneity, which is inevitable during mixing formed in treated soil using chemical binders.
cement with plastic fine-grained soil.
In cement-POFA combinations, POFA was used as 10%,
Unconfined compression test
20%, 30% and 40% of cement substitution in selected binder
The unconfined compression test was performed in
dosages. In this regard, totally four samples were prepared
order to evaluate the efficacy of different stabilizers on
in the following cement-to-POFA proportions: 90:10,
the increase in shear strength with time after stabilization.
80:20, 70:30 and 60:40.
In preparing the samples, the needed amount of clayey
The selected binder quantities (or dosages) in this study
soil was first air dried for 24 h to ensure having soil with
were 5%, 10% and 15% by dry mass of the host soil. Despite
zero initial water content. The required stabilizers dosage
the fact that using higher binder dosages in certain cases,
rate of each specimen was then achieved by adding and
are more effective, the problems associated with the use
carefully mixing a calculated weight of additives by dry
of large quantities of stabilizers such as practical problems
mass of soil. Directly after mixing, specimens placed in
of spreading and mixing these large quantities were also
cylindrical mold (50 mm in diameter by 100 mm high),
considered in this study.
applying consistent moderate compaction in three equal
layers and extruded. Compaction was conducted manually
Standard proctor compaction test by a 45 mm diameter steel rod to eliminate air pockets, so
Standard proctor compaction test were conducted to as to improve the homogeneity of the specimens. Subse-
obtain the moisture-density relationship of the soil- quently, specimens closely wrapped in polythene covers
stabilizer mixtures according to BS 1377-1990 (Standard, to prevent moisture loss and cured at room temperature
1377). These tests were performed to measure the maxi- under different curing times (7, 14 and 28 days). Subse-
mum dry unit density and the optimum water content of quently, to approximate saturation in the unconfined com-
untreated and treated soil. The first series of compaction pression test, the samples unwrapped from plastic sheets
test was conducted to determine the natural soil and put into water containers. The samples soaked in
28 S. Pourakbar et al. / Transportation Geotechnics 3 (2015) 24–35

water for the last 24 h of curing reaching a degree of Results and discussion
saturation more than 75% before being tested at an axial
strain rate of two percent per minute. Effect on the compactability

Analysis of microstructure Table 4 shows the optimum moisture content (OMC)

The SEM analysis of the mixture using POFA and POFA/
cement combinations for soft soil treatment enables the
identification of pozzolanic reactivity, namely, CSH and
CAH.
EDS, which provide qualitative evidence for the forma-
tion of CSH and CAH gels in soil, were collected from
selected areas of the SEM specimens to verify whether or
not any CSH and CAH gels formed.
On the basis of SEM and EDS analysis, the stabilization
mechanisms of treated soil specimens discussed and the
observations from the tests were explained.
and maximum dry density (MDD) of the untreated soil,
cement treated soil, POFA-treated soil and cement-POFA
treated soil. As it was expected, cement addition to the soil
increased the OMC and MDD of the soil, which may be
explained by the flocculation and cementation of soil par-
ticles (Chew et al., 2004; Felt, 1955).
Fig. 3 shows the compaction curves for the soil–POFA
mixtures. As can be seen from the Table 4 and Fig. 3, POFA
addition to the soil decreased the OMC, while increased the
MDD of the soil. Addition of the treated POFA apparently
reduced the affinity of the soil for water and resulted in a
reduction in OMC of the soil.

Table 4
Standard compaction test results of treated clay soil.

Stabilizer Optimum moisture content (OMC) (%) Maximum dry density (MDD) (Mg/m3)
Type Binder ratio (%) Binder dosage (%)
None – – 29 1.29
Cement 100 5 33 1.31
10 34.5 1.32
15 34.5 1.34
POFA 100 5 25 1.32
10 23 1.41
15 21.5 1.43
Cement-POFA 90:10 5 32 1.33
10 29 1.36
15 28 1.41
Cement-POFA 80:20 5 29 1.35
10 25.5 1.43
15 26 1.47
Cement-POFA 70:30 5 27 1.3
10 26.5 1.31
15 24.5 1.38
Cement-POFA 60:40 5 28 1.3
10 27 1.33
15 25.5 1.42

Fig. 3. Compaction curves for Soil–POFA mixtures.

 S. Pourakbar et al. / Transportation Geotechnics 3 (2015) 24–35 29

Figs. 4 and 5 show the OMC and MDD of the POFA-
treated soil at different cement/POFA ratio respectively.
As can be seen from the figures and also from Table 4,
the effect of cement-POFA on soil compactability is
dependent on both cement/POFA ratio and binder dosage.
In general using higher binder dosage reduced the OMC
while increased the MDD of the soil. At a similar binder
dosage, it was observed that the OMC of the soil decreased
when the percentage of cement is replaced by the POFA
(i.e. higher cement/POFA ratio). This is likely because the
affinity of cement for water is slightly higher than that of
affinity of POFA for water.
The increase in the MDD can be attributed to both the
particle size and specific gravity of the binder and natural
soil (Degirmenci et al., 2007; Nalbantoğlu, 2004). The bin-
der with low specific area and fineness, initially coat the
soil to form large aggregates that consequently occupy
larger spaces. Thus, the tendency of clayey soil is to initial-
ly decrease the dry density until the binder (which tends to
increase the dry density) compensates for the larger spaces
(Hossain and Mol, 2011).
However, due to high specific area and small particle
size of the ground POFA after the pre-treatment process,
ultrafine POFA (individually and in combination with
cement) situated between the host soil constituents
increased the MDD of the clayey soil. The increase in
MDD is an indicator of improvement of soil properties
(Harichane et al., 2012; Basha et al., 2005).
Consistency (Atterberg) limits tests
The Atterberg limit tests conducted on the clayey soil
mixed with cement, POFA and their combinations are pre-
sented in Table 5. As it was expected from the results,
cement addition to the soil decreased the plasticity index
(PI) of the soil Chew et al., 2004; Okyay and Dias, 2010.
Also, the results show that the PI of soil decreased as the
percentage of added cement increased.
As shown in Fig. 6, addition of a small amount of POFA
(5%) increased the LL from 60.24% to 62.9%. The PL also
increased initially with the addition of POFA (5%). Further
increase in POFA (10% and 15%) decreased the LL and PL
of treated samples. However, the decreasing trend in the
LL was shown with a higher slope comparing that of the
PL, which in turn decreased the PI. Thus, POFA modification
reduced the plasticity and improved the consistency of the
investigated soil. Also, it was found that the effect of POFA
on soil consistency is dependent on the POFA percentage.
The increment in the percentage of POFA increased further
reduction in PI of the soil.

Fig. 4. Maximum dry density of treated soil using POFA and cement combinations in different binders content.

Fig. 5. Optimum moisture water content of treated soil using POFA/cement mixtures in various binders content.
30 S. Pourakbar et al. / Transportation Geotechnics 3 (2015) 24–35

Table 5
Consistency limits results of treated clayey soil.

Stabilizer Liquid limit (LL) (%) Plastic limit (PL) (%) Plasticity index (PI) (%)
Type Binder ratio (%) Binder dosage (%)
None – – 60.24 30.11 30.13
Cement 100 5 61.8 40.1 21.7
10 61.5 43 18.5
15 62 42.8 19.2
POFA 100 5 62.9 41.7 21.2
10 59.3 40.2 19.1
15 54.3 37.3 17
Cement-POFA 90:10 5 56.5 34.2 23
10 57.5 34 23.5
15 57.2 34.2 23.5
Cement-POFA 80:20 5 56.6 32.7 23.9
10 57.9 32.3 25.6
15 58.5 31 26.5
Cement-POFA 70:30 5 60 35.3 24.7
10 60.9 34.1 26.8
15 60.9 33.9 27
Cement-POFA 60:40 5 57.5 34 23.5
10 57.8 33.7 23.8
15 57.5 32 24.6

Fig. 6. Atterberg limits tests results of POFA treated soil specimens.

Fig. 7(a)–(c) shows the effect of combination of cement
and POFA at different binders dosage on Atterberg limits of
the soil. As can be seen, the PL of the treated soil using
POFA/cement mixture slightly decreased as the POFA/ce-
ment dosage increased, whereas the LL and PI increased.
It should be noted that the PI of the treated specimens at
all mixtures dosage was less than that of natural clayey
soil.
In general, the workability of the stabilized high-plas-
ticity soil is affected not only by its strength but also by
its plasticity index (Peethamparan and Olek, 2008; Baran
et al., 2001). It can be concluded that for this type of soil
(high-plasticity clay), a reduction in plasticity due to uti-
lization of POFA and POFA-blended cement is an indicator
of improvement.
Effect on the unconfined compression strength (UCS)
Fig. 8 demonstrates result of POFA in different percent-
ages when used in stabilization of clayey soil. When POFA
was used alone, the marginally increase in the strength in
comparison with untreated clay soil is thanks to poz-
zolanicity and extreme fineness of treated POFA.
The results show that adding POFA from 0% to 15%
increased the UCS of soil from 80 kPa (UCS of natural soil)
to 160 kPa. Fig. 8 also shows that at an early age (1 day),
the UCS of almost all soil–POFA mixtures was less than that
of the control group when less pozzolanic reaction was
expected. However, at later ages (7, 14, and 28 days), the
UCS28 (28 days curing) of the soil–POFA mixtures in differ-
ent binder dosages was higher than that at an early age
when the pozzolanic activity of the mixture must have ful-
ly commenced.
From chemical viewpoint with geotechnical consid-
erations, when the POFA alone was mixed with clayey soil,
reactions occur via two distinct processes (i) ion exchange
reactions known as modification and (ii) slower soil–POFA
pozzolanic reactions known as stabilization. These
mechanisms are responsible for the slight improvement
in the UCS of soil–POFA mixtures.
 S. Pourakbar et al. / Transportation Geotechnics 3 (2015) 24–35 31

Fig. 7. Variations of (a) liquid limit, (b) plastic limit and (c) plasticity index of treated soil using POFA/cement combinations in different binder dosage.

Fig. 8. Influence of POFA content and age on unconfined compression strength.

However, an improvement in the unconfined compres-
sive strength of approximately 345 kPa after curing for
28 days must be accomplished for the improvement to be
considered effective in accordance with ASTM D4609
(standard guidelines for considering the effectiveness of
additives in soil stabilization) (Wong et al., 2013). Mixtures
with POFA are under this acceptable limit. This can be
explained that, POFA is a pozzolanic material and it is a
well-documented fact that pozzolanic stabilizers cannot
react completely by themselves during stabilization
(Basha et al., 2005; Chen and Lin, 2009). They should meet
the requirements of the established standards.
In this respect, the UCS of cement and POFA combina-
tions for the formation of secondary cementitious
32 S. Pourakbar et al. / Transportation Geotechnics 3 (2015) 24–35

Fig. 9. Effect of POFA/cement mixture on unconfined compression strength after 7 days curing (binders dosage 10%).

Fig. 10. Effect of cement and combination of POFA/cement addition on unconfined compression strength in selected binders dosage.

Fig. 11. SEM images of (a) treated POFA, (b) cement and (c) natural soil.
 S. Pourakbar et al. / Transportation Geotechnics 3 (2015) 24–35
Fig. 12. The image of stabilized clayey soil with POFA (15% of dry soil).
Fig. 13. The image of stabilized clayey soil with cement/POFA (cement
70:30 POFA) mixture in 15% binder dosage.
Fig. 14. The EDS of the selected POFA/cement mixture sample after the curing of 28 days.
33
compounds with the Ca(OH)2 produced from the hydration
of cement was investigated. It is generally known that dur-
ing hydration of cement first calcium hydroxide is first
formed when the quicklime reacts with water. Subse-
quently, the increase in pH in the system promotes the dis-
solution of silica in the stabilizer which reacts with the
calcium oxides to form primary CSH cementing com-
pounds. A pozzolanic reaction between the POFA and soil
then forms a secondary CSH gel. The structure and compo-
sition of the primary and secondary CSH gels and the
amount of hydration and pozzolanic reaction can be
altered because of different binder dosages.
The UCS7 (7 days curing) of treated soil samples using
POFA/cement combination in the 10% binder dosage is
illustrated in Fig. 9. This figure also shows the UCS7 of
cement-stabilized soil at the same binder dosage for com-
parison. At short curing time, although the largest UCS7
value was found in the cemented soil mainly because of
cement hydration, the UCS7 values that stabilized soil spe-
cimens using the POFA/cement mixtures were also high.
Fig. 10 shows that in all selected binder dosage, the
UCS28 of treated soil using POFA/cement mixtures with
long curing time (28 days of curing) exhibited a higher
strength gain than the cement-treated soil samples. As
can be seen in Fig. 10, when POFA was used as a partial
34 S. Pourakbar et al. / Transportation Geotechnics 3 (2015) 24–35
cement substitution, the positive findings prove the coex-
istence of a combined action among the pozzolanic reac-
tion of POFA and hydrolysis of the cement in treated soil
specimens at long curing time (28 days curing).
With regard to the strength characteristics, as shown in
Fig. 10, the most effective amount of POFA content as a
cement substitute in the stabilization of investigated soil
appeared to be approximately in a range of 10–30%, vary-
ing slightly with binders dosage and binders ratio.
Effect on microstructures
The SEM of the natural clayey soil, POFA, and cement
are shown in Fig. 11(a)–(c), respectively, for an enhanced
understanding of the stabilization mechanisms resulting
from the utilization of different stabilizers. Two treated
specimens (soil specimens treated with POFA [15% of dry
soil] and cement/POFA combination [cement 70:30 POFA]
in 15% binder dosage were subjected to SEM analysis
(Figs. 12 and 13). Fig. 11(b) shows the SEM micrograph
of the ground POFA, which indicates that the ultrafine par-
ticle size of the utilized POFA led to an increasingly dense
POFA microstructure.
The SEM results of the treated soil with POFA and POFA/
cement mixtures show that the large voids present in the
unstabilized soil (Fig. 11a) diminished in the soil stabilized
with POFA (Fig. 12) and further decreased with the POFA/
cement combination (Fig. 13).
The micrograph presents the formation of CSH and CAH
gels caused by the hydration and pozzolanic reaction with-
in the pore spaces. These processes resulted in a reduction
of the pore space radius.
Also, in order to understand completely the strength
behavior of treated soil and for further validation of the
results obtained from SEM, EDS was done and the results
are shown in Fig. 14. As shown in Fig. 14, EDS provided
the average chemical composition of the detected ele-
ments contained in the circled location over the measure-
ments of 2 points. This figure shows that the Ca
percentages obtained in the circled areas in the SEM image
of treated soil using POFA/cement mixture (Cement 70:30
POFA) reveal new peaks. These peaks indicate the presence
of CSH and CAH gels in the mixtures.
Conclusion
In view of the importance of achieving the status of
green environmental policy and cleaner technology
approach, the innovation of using palm oil fuel ash in tro-
pical soft soil stabilization was investigated. The positive
findings of this research work proved the existence of a
combined action among the pozzolanic reaction of ultra-
fine POFA and hydrolysis of the cement in clayey soil stabi-
lization. These findings can help attacking two aspects:
First, under adequate technical and environmental condi-
tions, massive amounts of this residue would be partially
reduced, converted to useful, value-added adsorbents,
and second, can result in more economic projects.
Although the use of POFA in ground improvement applica-
tions is still in its infancy stage, the widespread and
significant progress in the application of this environ-
ment-friendly stabilizer in tropical soil stabilization can
be expected in the future. The laboratory results obtained
from this research lead to the following conclusions:
 The compaction test results indicate that the OMC and
MDD of stabilized clayey soil decreases and increases
across all selected binders dosage, respectively, when
POFA was used as a soil binder.
 The increase in the MDD despite the decrease in the
OMC of the POFA-treated soil specimens is due to the
predominant effect of the high finesse offered by
relatively fine POFA, whose size and surface texture dif-
fer from those of clayey soil.
 A significant finding that emerged from this study is
that using POFA and POFA/cement mixture generally
decreases the soil plasticity index. A reduction in the
plasticity of soils with high plasticity is a principal indi-
cator of improvement.
 Using POFA in stabilizing clayey soil can slightly
improve the UCS. However, the UCS increases sharply
with POFA/cement combinations as a result of cement
hydration, which serves as a POFA activator.
 The SEM and EDS tests present a significant correlation
between the UCS of the soil specimens treated by POFA
and POFA/cement mixtures, as well as the total content
of the CSH and CAH gels. The SEM and EDS analyses also
show that the treatment of the matrix was observed
because of the coexistence of cementitious and poz-
zolanic reactions between the soil and binders, which
are responsible for improving the strength of the stabi-
lized clayey soil specimens.
Acknowledgements
The authors sincerely thanks to the University Putra
Malaysia and Ministry of Science, Technology and Innova-
tion (MOSTI) for financial support during the study
(Escience fund Vot: 03-01-04-SF2011).
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