Assessment of the suitability of Kuwait oil sands for beneficial reuse

The purpose of this study was to investigate the potential beneficial use of the oil-contaminated sand of Northern Kuwait as a construction material. Samples with three Portland cement contents (4, 8 and 10% by weight of sand) and three different organic contents (9, 21 and 33%) were cured for seven days and tested for unconfined compressive strength, moisture content, and organic content. The early strength evaluation of stabilized material is an important factor in landfill caps and construction fill beneficial use applications to provide necessary strength for machinery operations. The results of this research show that the Portland cement content has a direct relationship with strength gain in the oil-contaminated sand of Kuwait. These results align with related studies discussing the coating effect of organic matter (such as crude oil) on soil grains, which inhibits the Portland cement hydration reactions and adversely affects the strength gain of stabilized material. Ultimately, the results of this study show that 8% Portland cement, of the total weight of the soil, mixed in the form of a slurry with 1 to 1 or 2.5 to 1 (water: cement) can fulfill the strength requirement to be reused beneficially.