Effect of humic acid on geochemistry properties of kaolin

Abstract

Organic soil is always known as problematic soil because of its engineering properties are inferior from other soft soils and/or because its behaviour may deviate from traditional rules of soil behaviour which makes it difficult to predict and design. Considerable research has been carried out over the years on organic soils, particularly peat soil which consists of various components of organic matter but the effect of particular organic matter is less reported. Hence, this study is carried out to determine the effect of humic acid (a kind of humified organic matter) on kaolin (which is widely studied). This paper addresses the influence of humic acid (30% and 50% of dry mass) on kaolin’s geochemistry properties namely Atterberg limits, compaction, specific gravity and Loss on Ignition (LOI). The findings of the study showed that the contents of humic acid had altered the behaviour of kaolin. The loss on ignition increased linearly with the increment of humic acid. However, the specific gravity, maximum dry density and Atterberg limits decreased with addition of humic acid. Atterberg limits decreased as the humic acid increased is believed to be due to the nature of humic acid which precipitated under acidic environment.