Effect of Motor Oil Spillage on the Properties of Silty Clay

Geethu Raveendran, Emy Poulose

Abstract: The increase in number of different automobiles and machinery has resulted in an increase in the use of lubricating oil. Motor oil are used for lubrication of internal combustion engines, and are derived from petroleum based and non-petroleum synthesized chemical compounds. The organic compounds in motor oil consisting of carbon and hydrogen. This has been shown to have harmful effect on the environmental and human being at large. The main objective of this project is to find out the effect of motor oil contamination on the properties of soil. In this study effect of motor oil contamination on plasticity, optimum moisture content, maximum dry density and compressive strength of soil is determined. The amount of motor oil contamination is varied at 2%, 4%, 8% and 16% of dry weight of soil sample. The results showed that the motor oil contamination affects the geotechnical properties of soil.

Keywords: Motor oil contaminated soil, Plasticity, Optimum moisture content, Compressive strength