Nanoclay Stabilization of Crude Oil Contaminated Soils

Human activities can pollute not only air and water but also soil. one of the most important types of soil pollution is the contamination with oil and its products. such contaminations are known to affect the geotechnical characteristics of soils as well as their physicochemical properties. these effects are required to be considered and remedied to ensure the safety of structures built on the contaminated soils. stabilization of contaminated soils with costeffective stabilizers seems to be a simple and quick approach to limit the impact of contamination. with the development of nanotechnology and its widespread use in all fields of engineering, the possible benefits of this technology for geotechnical engineering have received increasing attention. nano montmorillonite is a nanoproduct obtained from clay minerals and regarded as a natural and environmentfriendly stabilization material. in this research, the effects of crude oil contamination on the strength parameters of soil derived from isfahan oil refinery site were first considered using direct shear tests. the efficiency of nanoclay stabilizer to treat the contaminated soil was then evaluated considering the nanoclay content and treatment time. the tests results showed that the stabilized samples with 2.25% nanoclay additive (as optimum content) had a significant strength recovery. thus, the treated soil cohesion and friction angle enhanced respectively to 1.7 times and 1.2 times those of untreated soil.