Sustainable and environmentally friendly clay stabilization using pozzolan and natural biopolymer

This study investigates the stabilization of expansive bentonite soils using metakaolin and xanthan gum under lime activation. Laboratory tests were conducted to evaluate the uniaxial compressive strength (UCS) and swelling behavior of the treated samples at curing times of 7, 14 and 28 days. The results showed that with curing time, a significant improvement in UCS was observed for mixtures containing higher amounts of metakaolin and xanthan gum. And at 28 days, the optimized mixture (15% metakaolin, 0.5% xanthan gum and 4% quicklime) achieved almost three times the UCS of the unstabilized soil. Also, the swelling percentage was significantly reduced from 9% in the control sample to 3% in the stabilized mixture. The interaction between metakaolin and xanthan confirmed the synergistic effect and highlighted the importance of designing optimal stabilizing mixtures. Overall, the findings show that metakaolin and xanthan gum act as effective stabilizers and lime as an activator. This combination is a promising solution for stabilizing expansive soils in geotechnical engineering applications.

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