The Applications of Zeolite in Sustainable Binders for Soil Stabilization

In order to decrease the environmental impact caused by Portland cement in binders for soil stabilization, Zeolite was chosen to replace some percentage of Portland cement. Unconfined Compressive Strength (UCS) was used as a recognized parameter for assessing the performance of soil stabilization. The UCS values of the Zeolite-PC mix in three binder dosages (2.5%, 5.0% and 10%) and at three curing periods (7 days, 28 days and 90 days) were for two model soils; namely a gravel sand and a clayey silt. The experiment results demonstrated that the highest UCS value 1.28MPa, of Zeolite-PC mixes was obtained at 90 days, in a 10% content binder dosage, which has exceeded the current USA guideline of 350kPa, comparing all of the UCS values for all dosages and all curing periods in clayey silt. The highest UCS value of 7.65MPa for Zeolite-PC mixes was achieved at 90 days and in a 10% content binder dosage in gravel sand. In comparison, the PFA (Pulverised Fuel Ash)-PC mixes have presented lower UCS values than the Zeolite-PC mixes with the same content ratio and the same testing time.