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SOIL STABILISATION BY USING RICE HUSK ASH

Mr. S. ANDAVANa, G.PRADEEP KUMARb
a
Assistant professor, Department of Civil Engineering,Saveetha School of Engineering,SIMAT,Chennai 602001,
Tamil Nadu.
b
UGstudent, Department of Civil Engineering,Saveetha School of Engineering,,SIMATS,Chennai 602001,
Tamil Nadu

Abstract

Rice husk disposal has been one among the foremost concern of the global world because it is created in great deal
because of rice being staple food of the many country. By keeping This concept, our project aims to un ravel the
matter of correct disposal of rice husk by burning it so exploitation its ash as associate degree admixture with soil
there by at the same time causative to the study in improvement of the geotechnical properties of soil. It is being
perishable in nature can decompose and would stop to contribute to any amendment within the properties of soil if
utilized in its raw kind. Hence, it had been needed to use the ash of rice husk. The content within the soil were
varied from 8%, 10%. Clay content was conjointly varied. Laboratory experiments to see the fundamentals
geotechnical properties of soil like permissible, proctor take a look at, plastic limit and direct shear take a look at
were conducted. The analysis outcome shows that rice husk ash and clay once used along will improve the strength
property of the regionally obtainable sandy soil. Though use of rice husk alone will greatly decrease the malleability
index of sandy soil however it may be ended that the employment of ash is also terribly useful for clay kind of soil.

Keywords: Soil improvement; Rice Husk Ash; admixture; strength of soil, plasticity of soil; Construction
Materials.
1. Introduction

Rice husk ash may be a by- product of paddy seeds along with rice edge. The husk isn’t appropriate as animal feed
thanks to its abrasive character and nearly negligible super molecule content, its high polymer contents build it
unsuitable as a material for paper producing. So as to scale back such volume of waste, rice husk is burned either in
open lots or as a fuel in ovens for rice drying, power generation, etc. The burning volatilizes the organic compounds
and water of the rice husk, and concerning two hundredth of the mass remains as rice husk ash if all rice husks has
been burned, it’d annually turn out concerning twenty various heaps of rice husk ash worldwide. To worth this
residue is an alternate to its final disposition with environmental profit. Rice husk are siliceous and aluminous
materials, that in themselves possess very little or no properties, however with chemicals react with lime hydrate,
like lime, to create compounds possessing building material properties. The RHA contains around ninetieth of oxide,
that is that the highest concentration of all plant residues. Based mostly upon this husk has been accustomed
improve properties of soil either once additional alone or once mixed with a hydraulic matter like the cement and
lime. Soil stabilization by the addition of rice husk and lime is especially engaging for road pavements as a result of
it results in cheaper the foremost extremely qualified materials for priority uses. The impact of the addition of rice
husk ash alone on the physical property, unconfined compression strength and California bearing quantitative
relation of a lateritic soil with 4.25 passing the sieve. Results showed will increase for unconfined strength and
California bearing in one day with increase in RHA up to twenty and eighteen, severally, when they decrease.

2. Rice Husk Ash

Rice milling industry generates a lot of rice husk during milling of paddy which comes from the fields. This rice
husk is mostly used as a fuel in the boilers for processing of paddy. Rice husk is also used as a fuel for power
generation. Rice husk ash is about 25% by weight of rice husk when burnt in boilers.   It is estimated that about 70
million tone of RHA is produced annually worldwide. This is a great environment threat causing damage to the land
and the surrounding area in which it is dumped. During milling of paddy about 78 % of weight is received as rice,
broken rice and bran .Rest 22 % of the weight of paddy is received as husk. This husk is used as fuel in the rice mills
to generate steam for the parboiling process. This husk contains about 75 % organic volatile matter and the balance
25 % of the weight of this husk is converted into ash during the firing process, is known as rice husk ash. This RHA
in turn contains around 85 % - 90 % amorphous silica. So for every 1000 kg of paddy milled, about 220 kg (22 %)
of husk is produced, and when this husk is burnt in the boilers, about 55 kg (25 %) of RHA is generated. 

3. Burning Process of Rice Husk

As mentioned above the quality of rice husk is greatly dependent upon the type of burning process undergone.
Different types of burning are carried out, which are mentioned below:

3.1 Open – Field Burning

This method of open burning of rice husk ash produces poor quality rice husk ashes. These produces highly
crystalline form structure which is of lower reactivity.

3.2 Fluidized -Bed Furnace Burning

This is a controlled method of burning the rice husk. The combustion heat of rice husk is used for the generation of
electricity. The controlled operation is carried out by maintaining the time -temperature parameter. A combustion
temperature between 500 to 700 degrees Celsius. This is carried out for a longer time so that complete removal of
the carbon is taken. Or the temperature is increased from 700 to 800 degree Celsius for a time of 1 minute. The
fluidized bed furnace method produced rice husk ashes have 80 – 95% of silicon dioxide, 1-2% of K 2O and 3-18%
of unburned carbon. The rice husk ash produced by this method have a higher cellular structure.

3.3 Industrial Furnace

This method is put forward to facilitate environmental and economic reasons. The efficiency of combustion would
bring up a silica dioxide in the range of 90 – 95%.This method helps in producing the rice husk ashes with
amorphous silica and cellular structure products in an easier way. The rice husk ash produced by this method is
highly essential.

4. Applications of Rice Husk Ash

The rice husk ash is a green supplementary material that has applications in small to large scale. It can be used for
waterproofing. It is also used as the admixture to make the concrete resistant against chemical penetration. The main
applications of rice husk ash in the construction are

 High-performance Concrete
 Insulator
 Green concrete
 Bathroom floors
 Industrial factory floorings
 Concreting the foundation
 Waterproofing and rehabilitation

5. Rice Husk Ash Classification and Chemical Composition

Table.1: Chemical Composition of Rice Husk Ash

S.NO Particulars Proportion

1. Silicon Dioxide 86.94%

2. Aluminum Oxide 0.2%

3. Iron Oxide 0.1%

4. Calcium Oxide 0.3-2.25%

5. Magnesium Oxide 0.2-0.6%

 6. Sodium oxide 0.1-0.8%

7. Potassium Oxide 2.15-2.30%

6. LATERITE SOIL
Laterite is a soil and rock type rich in iron and aluminium and is commonly considered to have formed in hot and
wet tropical areas. Nearly all laterites are of rusty-red coloration, because of high iron oxide content. They develop
by intensive and prolonged weathering of the underlying parent rock. Tropical weathering is a prolonged process of
chemical weathering which produces a wide variety in the thickness, grade, chemistry and ore mineralogy of the
resulting soils.

6.1 Types of laterite soil

1. Laterite soil
2. Lateritic soil
3. Non-lateritic soil

6.2 LATERITE SOIL

Laterite is a soil and rock type rich in iron and aluminium and is commonly considered to have formed in hot and
wet tropical areas. Nearly all laterites are of rusty-red coloration, because of high iron oxide content. They develop
by intensive and prolonged weathering of the underlying parent rock.

6.3 LATERITIC SOIL

The major difference among these soils is the content of iron oxides. The dominant iron species are magnetite and
magnesite for the Tamsin and Tungwei. These two soil samples possess the magnetic iron species probably due to
their parent material conditions. Parent materials of Tamsin and Tungwei are andesite and basalt, respectively,
which belong to igneous rock.

6.4 NON-LATERITIC SOIL

Generally, people are discovering the benefits of having literate and clay buildings in developing countries
especially in tropical regions, the benefits ranges from warming rooms during cold and cooling in hot seasons,
availability in most areas, low cost of extraction and processing and production of building products such as bricks,
blocks, tiles pipes and sanitary appliances. Another benefit is better properties and beauty can be obtained by adding
colour additives these materials.

7.0 Characterization of lateritic and laterite soils

1. Disintegration and decomposition of the parent material in the direction of the end products of weathering.
2. Release and removal of silica.
3. Separation of sesquioxides and fixation in the profile.
4. Non-accumulation of organic matter
5. Distinctive red colour.

Fig1. Formation of Laterite Soil

8. Results and Method

8.1 Liquid Limit Test

The liquid limit is the moisture content at which the groove, formed by a standard tool into the sample of soil taken
in the standard cup, closes for 10mm on being given 25 blows in a standard manner. This is the limiting moisture
content at which the cohesive soil passes from liquid state to plastic state.

Table 2: Liquid Limit Test values

S.NO SAMPLE LIQUID LIMIT %

1. SOIL SAMPLE 15.38%

2. SOIL +8% RICE HUSK 24.5%

ASH

3. SOIL+10% RICE HUSK 30.24%

LIQUID ASHLIMIT %
1200.00%

1000.00%

800.00%

600.00%

400.00%

200.00%

0.00%
0 2 4 6 8 10 12
 Fig2. Liquid limit test graph

8.2 Plastic Limit Test

The plastic limit is the constant defined as the lowest moisture content and expressed as a percentage of the weight
of the oven dried soil at which the soil can be rolled into threads one-eighth inch in diameter without the soil
breaking into pieces.

Table 3: Plastic limit Test Values

S.NO SAMPLE PLASTIC LIMIT %

1. SOIL SAMPLE 66.0%

2. SOIL+8% RICE HUSK ASH 89.5%

3. SOIL+10% RICE HUSK ASH 95.6%

 PLASTIC LIMIT %
1200.00%

1000.00%

800.00%

600.00%

400.00%

200.00%

0.00%
0 2 4 6 8 10 12
Fig3. Plastic limit test graph

8.3 Specific Gravity Test

Specific gravity is the ratio of the density of a substance to the density of a substance, it is the ratio of the mass of a
substance to the mass of a reference substance for the same given volume. Apparent specific gravity is the ratio of
the weight of a volume of the substance to the weight of an equal volume of the reference substance.

Table 4: Specific Gravity Test values

S.NO SAMPLE SPECIFIC GRAVITY

1. SOIL SAMPLE 2.00

2. SOIL+8% RICE HUSK ASH 2.093

3. SOIL+10 RICE HUSK ASH 2.206

 SPECIFIC GRAVITY
12

10

0
0 2 4 6 8 10 12

Fig4. Specific Gravity test graph

8.4 Standard Procter compaction

The proctor compaction test is a laboratory method of experimentally determining the optimal moisture content at
which a given soil type will become most dense and achieve its maximum dry density. The dry density of a soil for a
given compactive effort depends on the amount of water the soil contains during soil compaction.

Table 5: Standard Procter Compaction Test Values

S.NO SAMPLE SPC

1. SOIL SAMPLE 1.90

2. SOIL+10% RICE HUSK ASH 1.92

3. SOIL+12% RICE HUSK ASH 1.94

SPC
12
10
8
6
4
2
0
0 2 4 6 8 10 12
 Fig5. Standard Procter test Compaction test Graph

8.5 Moisture content

The moisture content of soil also referred to as water content is an indicator of the amount of water present in soil.
By definition moisture content is the ratio of the mass of water in a sample to the mass of solids in the sample,
expressed as a percentage.

Table 6: Moisture Content Test Values

S.NO SAMPLE Moisture Content

1. SOIL SAMPLE 7.8%

2. SOIL+8% RICE HUSK ASH 8.3%

3. SOIL+10 RICE HUSK ASH 10%

Moisture Content
1200.00%
1000.00%
800.00%
600.00%
400.00%
200.00%
0.00%
0 2 4 6 8 10 12

Fig6. Moisture Content Test Graph

8.6. Unconfined compressive strength

The unconfined compression test is by far the most popular of soil shear testing because it is one of the fastest and
cheapest methods of measuring shear strength. The method is used primarily for saturated, cohesive soils recovered
from thin-walled sampling tubes. The unconfined compression test is inappropriate for dry sands or crumbly clays
because the materials would fall apart without some land of lateral confinement.

Table 7: Unconfined Compressive Strength

S.NO SAMPLE Unconfined compressive
strength

1. SOIL SAMPLE 0.92

2. SOIL+5% RICE HUSK 1.02

ASH

3. SOIL+10 RICE HUSK ASH 0.8

Unconfined compressive
strength
12
10 Unconfined com-
8 pressive strength
6
4
2
0
0 2 4 6 8 10 12

Fig7. Unconfined Compressive Strength Graph

8.7. California Bearing Ratio Test

The California bearing ratio (CBR) is a penetration test for evaluation of the mechanical strength of natural ground,
sub grades and base courses beneath new carriageway construction.

Table 8: CBR Test Values

S.NO SAMPLE CBR

 1. SOIL SAMPLE 0.154

2. SOIL+8% RICE HUSK 2.003

ASH

3. SOIL+12% RICE HUSK 2.346

ASH

CBR
2.5
2

1.5 CBR

1
0.5

0
0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 3 3.5

Fig8. CBR Test Graph

9. Conclusion

A series of tests have been performed to study the effects and stabilisation of randomly distributed plastic-waste
fiber reinforcement on the strength of soil with rice husk ash mixtures. The effects of fiber inclusions in the soil and
RHA mixtures on the engineering properties were examined. It was observed from testing that these engineering
properties of fiber RHA soil vary and depend on the fiber content. The effect of solid wastes namely rice husk ash in
laterite soil on the variation of index properties, compaction characteristics were analysed. From the results the
following conclusion may be taken.
1. The liquid limit of the soil increases steeply with the increase in the % of RHA. In case of laterite soil the
liquid limit increased from a value of 24.5% to 30.24% for the different percentages of addition rice husk
ash.
2. The plastic limit of the soil increased by step by step with the increase in % of rice husk ash. In the laterite
soil the plastic limit increased from a value of 89.5% to 95.6% from the addition of different percentages of
rice husk ash.
3. The specific gravity of the soil increased with the addition of rice husk ash%. In the laterite soil the specific
gravity increased from a value 1.92 to 1.94 from the addition of rice husk ash.
4. The moisture content is to find out the ratio of the weight of water in the given soil. It increases by adding
the rice husk ash. The moisture content increased for a value of 8.3% to 10% from the addition of
percentages of rice husk ash.
 5. The unconfined compressive strength is increased and decreased by the addition of rice husk ash
percentage. In unconfined strength by adding 5% of rice husk ash is increased by 1.02 and decreased by
adding 10% of rice husk ash by 0.8.
6. CBR test is used to find out the bearing capacity of the soil by adding rice husk ash. In CBR by adding 8%
of rice husk ash is increased by 2.003 and increased by 12% of rice husk ash by 2.346.

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