Frontiers of Environmental Science & Engineering
>> 2021,
Volume 15,
Issue 4
doi:
10.1007/s11783-020-1359-1
RESEARCH ARTICLE
An integrated method for the rapid dewatering and solidification/stabilization of dredged contaminated sediment with a high water content
1. Institute of Geotechnical and Underground Engineering, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan 430074, China 2. Department of Civil Engineering, Quaid-e-Awam University of Engineering, Sciences and Technology, Sindh 67450, Pakistan |
Available online: 2020-10-27
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Abstract
Abstract • An integrated method, called PHDVPSS, was proposed for treating DCS. • The PHDVPSS method showed superior performance compared to conventional method. • Using the method, water content (%) of DCS decreased from 300 to<150 in 3 days. • The 56-day UCS from this method is 12‒17 times higher than conventional method. • Relative to PC, GGBS-MgO binder yielded greater reduction in the leachability. To more efficiently treat the dredged contaminated sediment (DCS) with a high water content, this study proposes an integrated method (called PHDVPSS) that uses the solidifying/stabilizing (S/S) agents and prefabricated horizontal drain (PHD) assisted by vacuum pressure (VP). Using this method, dewatering and solidification/stabilization can be carried out simultaneously such that the treatment time can be significantly shortened and the treatment efficacy can be significantly improved. A series of model tests was conducted to investigate the effectiveness of the proposed method. Experimental results indicated that the proposed PHDVPSS method showed superior performance compared to the conventional S/S method that uses Portland cement (PC) directly without prior dewatering. The 56-day unconfined compressive strength of DCS treated by the proposed method with GGBS-MgO as the binder is 12‒17 times higher than that by the conventional S/S method. DCS treated by the PHDVPSS method exhibited continuous decrease in leaching concentration of Zn with increasing curing age. The reduction of Zn leachability is more obvious when using GGBS-MgO as the binder than when using PC, because GGBS-MgO increased the residual fraction and decreased the acid soluble fraction of Zn. The microstructure analysis reveals the formation of hydrotalcite in GGBS-MgO binder, which resulted in higher mechanical strength and higher Zn stabilization efficiency.