Utilization of bioethanol industry recycled waste for sustainable soil improvement: A win-win application

Dispersive soils are a common problematic soil that may pose engineering distress if not adequately taken care of. On the other hand, stabilization of with waste materials has recently gained more interest from an environmental and sustainable point view. Hence, this study utilized sulfur-free lignin (SFL), which is bioethanol-based by-product, to improve dispersive silt clay investigated effectiveness considering combine impacts water freeze-thaw (F-T). The SFL was added five sample groups ranging 3 15%. Then, series experiments performed stability stabilized mechanical, chemical micro-structural results reveal moisture resistance can be significantly improved addition low content (3%) slightly better than high (15%) under no cyclic F-T. This attributed increased cation exchange capacity (CEC) owing exchangeable sodium ions used during pretreatment process bioethanol. Nevertheless, samples exhibit superior characteristics when adverse effects F-T cycles. According X-ray fluorescence analysis (XRF), new elemental composition found indicating does bring contamination risk soil. However, organic matter increases content. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) provided visual evidence formation physical bonds denser structure due SFL, responsible for improvements observed. In addition, cracks in matrix caused by cycles were also Overall, utilization studied shows good potential performance soils.