An integrated method for the rapid dewatering and solidification/stabilization of dredged contaminated sediment with a high water content

To more efficiently treat the dredged contaminated sediment(DCS)with a high water content,this study proposes an integrated method(called PHDVPSS)that uses the solidifying/stabilizing(S/S)agents and prefabricated horizontal drain(PHD)assisted by vacuum pressure(VP).Using this method,dewatering and solidification/stabilization can be carried out simultaneously such that the treatment time can be significantly shortened and the treatment efficacy can be significantly improved.A series of model tests was conducted to investigate the effectiveness of the proposed method.Experimental results indicated that the proposed PHDVPSS method showed superior performance compared to the conventional S/S method that uses Portland cement(PC)directly without prior dewatering.The 56-day unconfined compressive strength of DCS treated by the proposed method with GGBS-MgO as the binder is 12–17 times higher than that by the conventional S/S method.DCS treated by the PHDVPSS method exhibited continuous decrease in leaching concentration of Zn with increasing curing age.The reduction of Zn leachability is more obvious when using GGBS-MgO as the binder than when using PC,because GGBS-MgO increased the residual fraction and decreased the acid soluble fraction of Zn.The microstructure analysis reveals the formation of hydrotalcite in GGBS-MgO binder,which resulted in higher mechanical strength and higher Zn stabilization efficiency.