Performance of silica waste as a stabilizing agent in peat Available to Purchase

Peat is spread across the Sarawak state of Malaysia, covering about 69.08% of the land. It’s worth mentioning that peat is becoming a massive challenge for the construction industry. Thus, stabilization of peat using waste pozzolans to improve its strength is needed. In this research, silica waste combined with the Ordinary Portland Cement (OPC) is used as a stabilizing agent. This research aimed to investigate the effect of silica fume (SF) derived from a metal alloy industry to replace OPC in peat stabilization. The physical properties of peat were investigated to assess and characterize the parent peat. Subsequently, the effect of SF and OPC was determined using mechanical testing. Due to the application of hydraulic binders, the treated samples were cured for 7 and 14 days to assess the strength enhancement using SF and OPC. Finally, scanning electron microscopy (SEM) with energy dispersive x-ray analysis (EDX) was used to investigate the microstructural variation of the untreated peat along with the depth. Based on the results, it is concluded that the derived peat was hemic and sapric in nature with high water and organic contents. Also, the unconfined compressive strength (UCS) results revealed that the untreated peat possesses a meager strength of about 10.29 kPa. The UCS value was enhanced to 744.06kPa with the incorporation of 50% of SF. It is also found that the peat strength increases with the increasing curing period. Thus, an industrial waste (silica fume) can be used as a replacement for OPC to stabilize peat and increase its strength. Lastly, the morphological results revealed that peat becomes more humified and compact with increasing depth. Also, the energy dispersive x-ray analysis shows that the composition of peat varied less with the depth and possessed almost the exact percentages of the elements.