Mechanical and environmental properties of geopolymer-stabilized domestic waste incineration slag in an asphalt pavement base

Domestic waste incineration slag (WIS) includes fly ash and slag. Fly ash is classified as hazardous waste because it contains heavy metals. Most of slag are directly stacked or landfilled due to problems such as large output and low utilization rate. Harmless treatment is imminent. If WIS is used effectively in the road engineering, which can realize the high-quality and high-efficiency recycling of WIS, and it is of great significance to save resources and protect the environment. This study applies a geopolymer prepared from WIS fly ash as a stabilizing agent in WIS blending macadam for use as a pavement base mixture, and reports the mechanical properties (unconfined compressive strength, splitting strength, and resilience modulus) of the geopolymer-stabilized WIS blending macadam (GeoWIS). The leaching concentrations of harmful heavy metals of GeoWIS soaked in water were also investigated. Finally, the strength formation and heavy metal stability mechanisms were explored. The unconfined compressive strength, splitting strength, and compressive resilient modulus of GeoWIS all increased with increasing geopolymer content and decreasing WIS content. The strength of GeoWIS was derived from its geopolymerization and hydration products (C-S-H gel, N-A-S-H gel, and AFt). When the geopolymer content reached 12%–14%, the GeoWIS without natural macadam met the strength criterion of the asphalt pavement base. Through physical adsorption and chemical bonding, the geopolymer significantly reduced the leaching of harmful heavy metals. In GeoWIS with 50% WIS and stabilized with 10% geopolymer, the Cr, Ni, Cd, and Pb concentrations met the grade Ⅲ groundwater standard. Concentrations of heavy metals leached from GeoWIS are low and exert little impact on environment.