Sustainable development principles lead earthworks companies to use all natural extracted materials on construction sites. Most of the time, mechanical properties of these materials have to be improved, lime and cement being the traditional additives. In this context, the use of organic non-traditional products with limited environmental impact has been proposed, but their effects on soil behavior and stabilizing mechanisms are not well understood. The aim of this paper is to characterize the modification of geotechnical properties of three fine graded soils treated with an acid solution (AS) containing sulfonated limonene, a byproduct of the citrus industry. Investigations including Proctor compaction and unconfined compressive strength measurements were performed. For one of the tested soils, the experimental results showed a reduction of the optimum Proctor water content that induced an improvement of the unconfined compressive strength of the treated soil. The modifications of compaction characteristics observed for two soils allowed a better compaction especially on the dry side of the Proctor curve. For dry soils, such modifications can reduce water and energy consumption during the compaction step. However, the effects of the treatment appeared to be highly dependent on soil nature.
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