The durability properties of high volume oil palm biomass waste mortar

Research works on the use of pozzolanic waste materials have continued to gain attention worldwide in an attempt to reduce the environmental problem due to carbon dioxide emission from cement manufacturing process. Nowadays, biomass wastes from oil palm industry are abundantly available in many parts of the world. In relation to that an increase in the production of oil palm will create a major disposal problem of the wastes. It is estimated that for every tonne of oil processed, nearly five tonnes of agricultural waste known as biomass are generated including Palm Oil Fuel Ash (POFA), Oil Palm Kernel Shell (OPKS) and Oil Palm Fibre (OPF). This research therefore, focuses on investigating the effects of nano POFA as cement replacement, OPKS as fine aggregates replacement and OPF as tensile strength enhancement on the properties and performance of biomass mortar. The size of the POFA used had been successfully reduced from micromolecular to the nano-size range by ball milling and the LOI was reduced during treatment process. Various tests were carried out to determine the characteristics of materials including X-ray fluorescence, transmission electron microscopy, sieve analysis and balling effect. The effects of biomass waste on fresh and hardened properties of mortar such as hydration temperature, compressive strength, splitting tensile strength, flexural strength, modulus of elasticity, water absorption, total porosity, chloride penetration, acid resistance, sulphate resistance, dry-wet cycle test and ultrasonic pulse velocity were also investigated. Furthermore, various techniques including X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, thermo gravimetric analysis and fourier transform infrared spectroscopy analysis were used to study the microstructure of the biomass mortar. The results show that the use of 80% nano size POFA has reduced the hydration temperature by 30% and produced higher compressive strength at the age of 28 days by 32% compared to normal mortar. In addition, the compressive strength of the 80% nano POFA mortar at 365 days was 25% higher than its 28 days strength, while the mortar density and porosity was reduced by 50% and 51%, respectively. Thus, grinding the raw POFA to a nano size particle has significantly improved the reactivity of the ash. The inclusion of high volume nano POFA and OPKS reduces the density of mortar due to the low density of the materials itself. The experimental results also showed that the durability and microstructural characteristics of the biomass mortar were significantly improved and better than control mortar. The inclusion of 0.7 % OPF was found to increase the splitting tensile strength and flexural strength up to 69 % and 65 %, respectively, as compared to normal mortar. The overall results revealed that biomass waste with some treatment can be used to produce mortar that is sustainable, higher strength and good durability

Sustainable affordable housing strategies for solving low-income earners housing challenges in Nigeria

Globally, several studies have affirmed that the population of those who are displaced with respect to housing is on the rise. Developing nations in the continent of Africa to include Nigeria are reportedly not spared of this development. Similarly, the low-income earners have been reported as the worst hit of this global menace. Shanty dwellings, squatter settlements and informal settlements have similarly been reported to be homes to low-income earners who constitute over 90% of the population of Nigeria. This study therefore presented sustainable affordable housing strategies as an emerging concept through which low-income earners housing challenges in Nigeria can be eliminated. The study relied on a systematic review of literature to arrive at its findings. Findings from the study revealed that sustainable affordable housing strategies through which Nigerian low-income earners housing challenges can be addressed can best be explored from the social, economic, environmental, institutional and technological components of sustainable affordable housing. The study calls on the government, stakeholders, policy makers as well as private developers to adopt sustainable affordable housing strategies for low-income housing provision in Nigeria. The study’s outcome will contribute to existing body of knowledge in that it will provide useful information with respect to low-income housing provision and equally re-direct research interest on low-income housing in Nigeria and other developing nations

Effect of recycled homogeneous ceramic waste aggregates on water absorption of mortar

Nowadays, concern for environmental issues encourages the researchers to find a solution for reducing depletion of natural resources. Utilizing the industrial wastes as a construction material is a win-win situation which has two benefits; first, will solve the problem of the landfill and on another hand by recycling and reusing the waste will increase natural materials reservation life span. Ceramic wastes are one of the by-products of ceramic manufacturing, which is directly meant for landfill ends traditionally. There have been several studies on replacement of ceramic waste with concrete admixture. However, there is no research on the effect of the using high rate of ceramic waste replacement on the rate of water absorption. This experimental work focuses on utilizing the homogeneous ceramic wastes as recycled aggregates and partial cement replacement and verifies the effect of this replacement on water absorption of mortar. River sand fully replaced by recycled ceramic aggregates and 40% of cement was replaced by fine ceramic powder. The specimens were cast in 100 x 100 x 100 mm cube for compressive strength test and water absorption test. Mortar containing the recycled ceramic wastes shows lower water absorption in compared to control specimens where the rate value, at the age of 90 days, are 1.32% and 2.11%, respectively

Properties of Mortar Incorporating Spent Garnet as Fine Aggregates Replacement

The rapid growth in the construction industry has increase in the consumption of fine aggregates whereby it depletes the natural resources. Also, garnet is a materials that can be reused for several times in the ship cleaning process. However, when this garnet can no longer be used, it is then are disposed in landfill, oceans and rivers, thus increase the volume of landfill waste and causing environmental problems. Therefore this research is aimed to study the effect of spent garnet as a fine aggregates replacement in terms of physical, fresh and hardened properties of mortar. In this study, several specimens are prepared by using different percentage of spent garnet range from 0%, 25%, 50%, 75% and 100% as a fine aggregates replacement in mortar. The specimens are casted using 50 mm x 50 mm x 50 mm mould and the materials used in preparing the mortar sample are cement, fine aggregates, water and spent garnet. The samples is then cured in the water before it is tested at the age of 7, 14, and 28 days. The characteristic of the materials and fresh and hardened properties of mortar were investigated. It was found that the workability of mortar increases with the increasing amount of spent garnet. Overall, it is found out that the spent garnet can be used as fine aggregates replacement in mortar up to 50% since it has a comparable strength (40 MPa at 28 days) with a conventional mortar with 16% improvement in water absorption test. In addition, the environmental impact can also be reduced through the use of spent abrasive waste by preserving the use of natural resources

Properties of polymer modified mortars

The using of epoxy resin as repair material in concrete is quite common. Previous research proof that epoxy resin in concrete can give strength and have high durability towards aggressive environment. Usually epoxy resin needs a hardener to make it hard when mix with concrete but in this research, the development of concrete by using epoxy resin without hardener is investigate. Epoxy resin without hardener or can be known as epoxy-modified mortar also can mix well with cement and harden the concrete. This is due to the present of hydroxide ion in cement hydrate that can react with epoxy resin and make it harden. This paper is present a strength properties of epoxy-modified mortar up to three months. In this research an epoxy resins (Diglycidyl Ether of Bisphenol A) without any hardener is used as polymeric admixture to prepare polymeric-cementitious materials and their strength properties are analysed. Epoxy-modified mortars are prepared with various polymer-cement ratios, subjected to initial wet/dry curing plus long term dry. The optimum mix proportion of epoxy resin content in concrete is determined. The result shows that, the optimum polymer to cement ratio is 10% with dry/wet curing and up to three month of strength development, the compressive strength continuously increased

Effect of homogeneous ceramic tile waste on properties of mortar

The subject of reduce, reuse and recycle of waste material either from industrial or agricultural sectors is considered very important in the general attempt for sustainable construction. In relation to that, ceramic materials are widely used in many part of the world and consequently, large quantities of wastes are produced simultaneously by brick and tile manufacturers and construction industry. However, part of these wastes and those produced by the construction industry are dumped in landfills. In this present research, the effect of homogeneous ceramic tile waste on harden properties of mortar was investigated. Mortar mixes were prepared focusing on the effect of ceramic aggregates as river sand replacement. Tests were conducted for compressive strength, splitting tensile strength for all mortar specimens. The cement was partially replaced by ceramic powder by 20 %, 40 % and 60 %, respectively by weight of cement. The sand was replaced by ceramic aggregates ranging from 0% to 100% by weight of aggregates. The size of ceramic aggregates used is modified in accordance with ASTM C-33 while the cement was partially replaced by 40 % of ceramic powder by weight of cement. All specimens were cast in 50 mm cubes and cured in water after demoulding until the age of testing. By replacing 100 % of sand with ceramic aggregates, it was found that the compressive strength was very much similar to the control specimen without showing any negative effect. Similarly, by replacing cement with ceramic powder, the strength of mortar shows 10% increment as compared to control specimen. In conclusion, incorporation of homogenous ceramic tile waste either as sand replacement or cement replacement both can enhance the properties of mortar in fresh and hardened states

Review paper: Strength performance of eggshell as a cement replacement in concrete

The numbers of Malaysian construction industry had been increasing in several years with the large construction building and infrastructures projects had been constructed. Therefore, these developments led to an increase of cement production. The production of cement will cause wider environmental implication such are air pollution, water pollution and soil pollution which are very dangerous for human health. This is due to the manufacturing of cement that release dust, toxic and carbon dioxide emissions, which is a significant contributor of greenhouse gases. To overcome this problem, several researches had been conducted for the past few decade to find a new waste material that have same mechanical properties which can replace cement content in construction. One of the most promising materials that shows great potential is eggshell as a cement replacement. It is reported that the global egg production will increase to about 90 million tons by 2030, therefore the waste of eggshell will be increased too. This paper study the mechanical properties of eggshell as a cement replacement in concrete. Several papers had been reviewed and the results are presented in order to shows the performance of eggshell in concrete. The result shows that the concrete with less than 15% replacement of eggshell produced higher compressive and tensile strength compared to normal concrete. Moreover, the flexural strength of concrete containing eggshell up to 20% replacement shows comparable results with normal concrete. From the results, by replacing cement with eggshell up to 15% show a good performance as well as can reduce the use of cement and reduce the eggshell wasted in landfill

Review paper: Performance of rice husk ash as a material for partial cement replacement in concrete

The construction industry had approached a critical limit which led to the increase of cement production. The production of cement would cause a broader environmental implication. Cement production is a major source of carbon dioxide emission. Carbon dioxide gas contributes about 63.33% of global warming since the production of one ton of cement would emit about one ton of carbon dioxide to the environment. To mitigate this issue, the research community has investigated the use of waste materials that possess similar chemical properties with cement content as a material for partial cement replacement. The use of rice husk ash has shown to be a contending candidate in the literature. Therefore, this paper attempts at reviewing the performance of rice husk ash as partial cement replacement. It could be observed from the literature that concrete with 5% up to 15% of rice husk ash showed an equivalent performance to ordinary concrete in compressive, flexural, and tensile strength. Thus, rice husk ash can be used as a material replacement in concrete and reduces pollution that originates from cement production and open burning of rice husk

The assessment on the acceptance of waste materials as a partial cement replacement in Malaysian construction industry

The numbers of Malaysia construction industry had been increasing in several years with the large construction building and infrastructures projects had been constructed. Therefore, these developments led to an increase of cement production. The production of cement causes a wider environmental implication such as air pollution, water pollution and soil pollution which are very dangerous for human health. This is due to the manufacturing of cement that release dust, toxic and carbon dioxide emissions, which is a significant contributor of greenhouse gases. To overcome this problem, several researches had been conducted for the past few decades to develop a new material to replace cement. Most of the materials selected are from waste materials that has similar chemical properties and mechanical properties. From the research, most of the results show a positive performance in concrete and suitable to be use as a cement replacement. Unfortunately, the research stops at the research stage where it is rarely seen that these waste materials had been used in construction, especially in Malaysia. Most of the developers did not corporate these waste materials as a cement replacement in their construction work due to unclear reasons. Therefore, this study had been conducted to investigate the factors of un-implementation of waste materials in construction industry especially in Malaysian construction. This can be achieved by intensive literature review on properties and performance of waste materials in concrete. An interview session with an expertise also had been conducted to design a questionnaire that later had been distributed to 140 respondents from construction site background especially registered contractor Class G1-G7 all around Peninsular Malaysia. The data had been analyzed and the factor contribute to un-implemented of waste materials in construction had been identified. From the data analysis, factors that contributes to the un-implemented are due to lack of awareness and knowledge about waste materials as a cement replacement. Thus, to overcome this problem, respondents suggest that the workshop need to be conducted to spread the awareness and give a knowledge regarding waste materials as a cement replacement

Mechanical properties of self-compacting geopolymer concrete containing spent garnet as replacement for fine aggregate

Millions of tons of spent garnet, a by-product of surface treatment operations, are disposed of in landfills, oceans, rivers, and quarries, among others every year, thus it causes environmental problems. The main objective of this study is to evaluate spent garnet as a sand replacement in concrete prepared with ground granulated blast furnace slag (GGBS)-based self-compacting geopolymer concrete (SCGC). Concrete mixtures containing 0%, 25%, 50%, 75% and 100% spent garnet as a replacement for river sand were prepared with a constant Liquid/Binder (L/B) mass ratio equal to 0.4. Compressive, flexural and splitting tensile strengths as well as workability tests (slump, L-box, U-box and T50) were conducted on concrete containing spent garnet. As per specification and guidelines for self-compacting concrete (EFNARC) standard, the test results showed that the concrete’s workability increased with the increase of spent garnet, while all the other strength values were consistently lower than conventional concrete (SCGC) at all stages of replacement. The results recommended that spent garnet should be used in concrete as a sand replacement up to 25% to reduce environmental problems, costs and the depletion of natural resources