Feasibility of biochar for low-emission soft clay stabilization using CO2 curing

Abstract

Use of traditional lime-cement binders on stabilizing soft sensitive clays pose a significant challenge for the construction sector to reach Finland’s carbon neutrality goals by 2030. Traditional stabilization recipes consisting of cement as binders contributing significantly to CO₂ emissions ($\cong$ 500 kg CO₂ eq./ton in deep mixing alone). This laboratory study explores the feasibility of achieving near carbon-negative stabilization of soft clay leveraging accelerated CO₂ curing (ACC) in biochar (BC) enhanced cementitious composites. BC, a by-product of the biofuel industry, is used as partial replacement of cement (0 %, 10 %, and 50 % of binder) in developing precast cementitious piles. One non-carbonated treatment and two ACC treatments are employed to assess their uniaxial compressive strength, thermogravimetric properties and CO₂ sequestration capacity. The results demonstrate that synergistic effects of using BC with ACC not only enhances the compressive strength of the composites but also promotes CO₂ uptake due to formation of stable carbonates. BC due to its surface functional groups, honeycomb porous structure, and hydrophilicity facilitated uniform CO₂ diffusion in the clay matrix and likely improved internal curing. In ACC treated composites, the replacement of 50 % of cement with BC resulted in sufficient load-bearing capacity (≥50 kPa as per Finnish Guidelines) for both shallow and deep clay layers, making a suitable subgrade media for many types of geotechnical applications. The measured bound CO₂ increased gravimetrically from 2 % to 41 % when cement was partially replaced by BC. In case of non-carbonated samples, 10 % partial replacement of BC provided high strength ($\ge 200kPa$). Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) of a case study of utilizing BC stabilized clay in deep mixing operations can potentially reduce net carbon emissions to −50 kg CO₂ eq./ton.