Stabilization of Tropical Peat Using Liquid Polymer

Abstract

The technology of chemically improvement of soil properties is a widely accepted approach. It is also economically viable to increase the strength of soil as well as to limit water absorption, control soil erosion and soil settlement. Encountered extensively in wetlands, fibrous peat is considered as problematic organic soil because it exhibits low compressive strength. It is generally estimated that there are around 30 million hectares of tropical land covered with highly organic soil throughout the world, out of which about 3 million hectares lie in Malaysia. The present study aimed to investigate the effect of liquid polymer as a non-traditional soil additive which namely as SS299 in peat improvement. The influence of different concentration of selected additive (1%, 2%, 3%, 4% and 5%) were investigated on compressive strength improvement of unsoaked and soaked tropical peat samples by using unconfined compressive strength (UCS) tests. In addition, the morphology changes of treated samples were assess using field emission scanning electron microscopic (FESEM) tests. The results indicated that the SS299 soil additive is able to significantly increase the unconfined compression strength of selected peat.