Geo-engineering potentiality of electrocoagulated metal hydroxide sludge (emhs) from textile industry and emhs amended soil for using as building material

Various types of dyes, polymers, resins, salts and pigments are widely used in the textile industries which influence different properties of Electrocoagulated Metal Hydroxide Sludge (EMHS), generated by Electrocoagulation (EC) technique during wastewater treatment. In this study, geo-engineering properties (moisture content, specific gravity, Atterberg limit (plastic limit, liquid limit, plasticity index, liquidity index) and linear shrinkage) of EMHS from a textile industry and EMHS amended soil were investigated by standard method (British Standard Method 1377) to find the potentiality for using as building material. EMHS contained very high limit of all geo-engineering properties compared to soil. Very high iron content in EMHS, dissociated from anodes used in wastewater treatment, increased the specific gravity. Linear shrinkage showed strong positive correlation with plastic limit, liquid limit and plasticity index. It was found that EMHS can be feasible for making building materials i.e., blocks or bricks, as a substitute of soil for up to 30%. Use of EMHS as building blocks may reduce environmental disposal problem of sludge and initiate sustainable management of sludge in long run.