Environmental, economic, and social impacts of sugar cane bagasse and eggshell wastes for soil stabilization

• Published in: Environmental science and pollution research international Vol. 31; no. 10; pp. 15973 - 15985
• Main Authors: Tonini de Araújo, Mariana, Ferrazzo, Suéllen Tonatto, Consoli, Nilo Cesar, da Rocha, Cecília Gravina
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Berlin/Heidelberg Springer Berlin Heidelberg 01.02.2024; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Activated carbon; Alkalies; Animals; Aquatic Pollution; Atmospheric Protection/Air Quality Control/Air Pollution; Bagasse; Binders; Carbon Dioxide; Cellulose; Cement; Dosage; Earth and Environmental Science; Economic analysis; Economics; Ecotoxicology; Egg Shell; Egg shells; Environment; Environmental Chemistry; Environmental Health; Expansive soils; Geotechnical engineering; High density; Portland cement; Portland cements; Project engineering; Raw materials; Research Article; Saccharum; Social Change; Social impact; Sodium Hydroxide; Soil - chemistry; Soil stabilization; Stabilization; Sugar; Sugarcane; Sustainability; Waste Water Technology; Water Management; Water Pollution Control; Sustainability index; Eggshell lime; Life cycle assessments; Sugar cane bagasse ash; Alkaline activation
• ISSN: 1614-7499; 0944-1344; 1614-7499
• DOI: 10.1007/s11356-024-32299-w

Sustainability is a core topic for all sectors including geotechnical engineering (e.g., design of foundations, earthworks structures, and pavements for major infrastructure and building projects). Despite being comprised of environmental, economic, and social pillars, most sustainability studies in this area have focused on the first. Furthermore, social impacts and the three pillars integration are little explored. As a result, there is a lack of systemic and holistic assessments of innovative geotechnical alternatives. This research advances in this area by performing a complete sustainability assessment and integration of the environmental, economic, and social pillars of two expansive soil stabilization alternatives: (i) sugar cane bagasse ash combined with hydrated eggshell lime alkali-activated by sodium hydroxide (NaOH) and (ii) Portland cement. Individual analyses were carried out to determine the environmental, economic, and social impacts, and the single sustainability index. Alkali-activated binder dosages showed higher impacts in 4 out of 10 environmental categories. For both binders, high-density/low-binder dosages contributed to environmental and economic sustainability as they require lower quantities of raw materials and diesel for materials transportation. The total costs of alkali-activated binder dosages ($189.79 and $154.45) were higher than that of Portland cement ($72.49 and $54.04), mainly due to the high cost of NaOH acquisition. However, the alkali-activated binder dosages implied lower carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) emissions and thus lower social cost of CO 2 . The alternative binder presented a higher positive social impact. The alkali-activated high-density/low binder dosage is the most sustainable soil stabilization strategy.