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Landslides
and erosion bring much grief and suffering to people in many
parts of the world. To alleviate this problem, researchers have
developed a cheap and practical solution which uses palm oil and
rubber wastes to control the top soil and slope stability.
BIO-GEOMAT for Erosion Control and Slope Protection
Malaysia
has approximately 4 million hectares of oil palm plantation and
has emerged as the world's leading producers and exporter of oil
palm. This oil palm fibre by-product such as empty fruit bunch,
oil palm trunk and oil palm frond are produced in quantities of
the order of million of tones per annum. The total of waste is
more than 30 million tones per annum which generate more than 8
million tones of empty fruit bunch.
This
innovation is to be used for engineering purpose such as erosion
control and slope protection. Currently material to control
slope stability and erosion is made of synthetics and they are
very expensive.
The
Bio-Geomat was put on trial and was designed to be able to
improve the top soil from eroding and was further stabilised by
planting small plants such as grass, long grass and other
creepers. This is to allow environmentally friendly surroundings
and also provide the primary factor to strengthen the bonding
between the Bio-Geomat and the soil.
The
implementation of the layer of fiber in between the plant and
soil can improve the soil cover structure thus erosion due to
wind and water could be minimized. Out of all the biotechnical
methods, biogeotechnical soil cover with this fiber method shows
very good results in controlling the erosion. This is proven by
the lab test done in the lab.
The
advantages of the Bio-Geomat is that it is cheap and it is a by
product material i.e. Waste material of fruit bunch from palm
can be processed for making mat and formulated together
with/without soil rubberized material from waste tyres i.e. Bio-Geomat
and Bio-RGeomat respectively, as soil cover for erosion and
slope protection material.
The
Bio-Geomat acts as 5 IN 1 Product:
Protective layer
Reinforcement
Drainage
Separator
Bonding
Researchers:
Assoc. Prof. Dr. Fauziah Ahmad
Prof. Dr. Sabarudin Mohd (KUKTEM)
Assoc. Prof. Dr. Abdul Khalil Shawkataly
Ahmad Halmi Ghazali
Dziauddin Zainol Abiding
For
pictures and more information, please contact:
Assoc.
Prof. Dr. Fauziah Ahmad
Universiti Sains Malaysia
(Contact details available to registered journalists)
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