EFFECT OF PALM OIL FUEL ASH (POFA) FINENESS ON

THE MECHANICAL PROPERTIES OF CONCRETE

Jeffrey Lau Yong' Lian

TP
684 Master in Engineering
P3 (Civil)
L366 2014
2014
 UNIVERSITI MALAYSIA SARAWAK

Grade: _ _ _ __

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Final Year Project Report D
Masters IT]
PhD D

DECLARATION OF ORIGINAL WORK

This declaration is made on the 28 day of AUG 2014.

Student's
Declaration:

I JEFFREY LAU YONG LIAN. 14030081. FACULTY OF ENGINEERING hereby declare that
this research project entitled "EFFECT OF PALM OIL FUEL ASH (POFA) FINENESS ON THE
MECHANICAL PROPERTIES OF CONCRETE" is the result of my own research project work
exclude for quotations and citations which have been duly acknowledged. Besides that, I also declare
that it has not been previously or concurrently submitted for any other degree or award at Universiti
Malaysia Sarawak or other institutions.

Date: 28 AUG 2014

JEFFREY LAU YONG LIAN (14030081)

Supervisor's
Declaration:

I DR. DELSYE TEO CHING LEE) hereby certifies that the work entitled "EFFECT OF PALM
OIL FUEL ASH (PO FA) FINENESS ON THE MECHANICAL PROPERTIES OF CONCRETE" was
prepared by the above named student, and was submitted to the "FACULTY" as a partial
fulfillment for the conferment of MASTER OF CIVIL ENGINEERING (CIVIL ENGINEERING> and
the aforementioned work, to the best of my knowledge, is the said student's work.

Received for examination by: _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ __ Date: 28 AUG 2014

DR. DELSYE TEO CHING LEE

ii
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Student signature _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _~~ Supervisor signature: _ _ _ _ _ __
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------------------:--- ----.-.~-- -.----- -~ -~.-.- -

L
 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

First of all, I would like to thank my supervisor, Dr. Delsye Teo Ching Lee for guiding and

assisting me throughout the entire research proj ect. Besides that, I would also like to thank

everyone who had contributed in conducting the various laboratory experimental tests. In

addition, I would also like to express my thanks to Serian Palm Oil Mill Sdn. Bhd for

providing the palm oil fuel ash (PO FA) resources for my research project. Moreover, I would

like to thank my family for the support.

iv
 ABSTRACT

(palm oil industry in Malaysia is well known as the most important agricultural industry.

Million tonnes of palm oil fuel ash (POF A) is being generated every year without any

profitable return. POF A has the potential to be used as recycle materials due to their

pozzolanic behaviour. Thus, this research project presents the effect of palm oil fuel ash

(POFA) on the mechanical properties of concrete In this research project, POF A was used as

supplementary cementing material to replace cement in concrete production. This is because

POFA contains siliceous composition which produces a stronger and denser concrete. Three

different fineness of POFA (passing through 38j.Ull, 63j.Ull and 75j.Ull) were used to replace

ordinary portland cement at 15% by weight of cement throughout this research project. In the

mix proportion, a mix design ratio of 1: 1.15:2.95 (Cement: Fine Aggregate: Coarse Aggregate)

in term of weight of the components was constant for all mixtures. In this research project,

three laboratory experimentai tests were carried out namely slump test, compressive strength

test and splitting tensile strength test. The strength of POFA concrete are tested and

determined at 3, 7 and 28 days. Workability in terms of slump and strength properties of

POFA concrete were studied and compared with control specimen as well. The study revealed

that POFA fmeness had significant effect on the workability and strength of concrete. The test

results indicated th~, higher slump with higher fineness than those with lower fineness.

Compressive strength and splitting tensile strength was found to increase with the increase of

POFA fineness. Consequently, it was found that POFA concrete produces lower strength than

OPC concrete.

v
 ABSTRAK

Industri minyak sawit di Malaysia terkenal sebagai industri pertanian yang paling penting.

Juta tan abu bahan api kelapa sawit (POF A) sedang dijana setiap tahun tanpa apa-apa

pulangan yang menguntungkan. POF A mempunyai potensi untuk digunakan sebagai bahan

kitar semula kerana tingkah laku pozzolanic mereka. Oleh itu, projek penyelidikan ini

memberikan kesan abu bahan api kelapa sawit (POF A) terhadap sifat mekanikal konkrit.

Dalam projek kajian ini, POFA telah digunakan sebagai bahan penyimenan tambahan untuk

menggantikan simen dalam konkrit. Ini kerana POFA mengandungi komposisi bersilika yang

menghasilkan konkrit yang lebih kukuh dan lebih padat. Tiga kehalusan POFA yang

berlainan (melalui 38 ,~m, 63!lfl1 dan 75 1~m) telah digunakan untuk menggantikan simen

portland biasa pada 15% mengikut berat simen sepanjang projek penyelidikan ini. Dalam

nisbah campuran, nisbah reka bentuk campuran 1: 1.15: 2.95 (Cement: Agregat Halus:

Agregat Kasar) dari segi berat komponen adalah malar bagi semua campuran. Dalam projek

penyelidikan ini, tiga ujian ujikaji makmal yang telah dijalankan iaitu ujian kemerosotan,

ujian kekuatan mampatan dan membelah ujian kekuatan tegangan. Kekuatan konkrit POFA

diuji dan ditentukan pada 3, 7 dan 28 hari. Kebolehkerjaan dari segi kemerosotan kekuatan

dan sifat-sifat konkrit POF A telah dikaji dan dibandingkan dengan spesimen kawalan juga.

Kajian ini mendedahkan bahawa POF A kehalusan mempunyai kesan yang besar ke atas
.'
kebolehkerjaan dan kekuatan konkrit. Keputusan ujian menunjukkan kemerosotan yang lebih

tinggi dengan kehalusan yang lebih tinggi daripada yang dengan kehalusan yang lebih rendah.

Kekuatan mampatan dan kekuatan tegangan membelah didapati meningkat dengan

peningkatan kehalusan POFA. Oleh itu, didapati bahawa POF A konkrit menghasilkan

kekuatan lebih rendah berbanding konkrit OPe.

vi
 Pusat Khidmat MakJumat Akademj).
Ul'I1VERSITI MALAYSIA SARAW

TABLE OF CONTENTS

DECLARA.TION......... II II I I . II II II II II II II II II I I . II II II II II II II II II II II U

ACKl"lOWLEDGEMENT,,I II II II II II II II II II II II II II II II II II II II II II I I . II II II II II iv

ABSTRA.CT................................ II II II II II II II II II II II II II II II II II II II II II II II II II II II II II II II II II II II II II II II II II II V

TABLE OF CONTENTS II II II II II II II II II II II II II II II II II II II II II II II II II II II II II II II II II II II II II II II II II II II II I I . I I . II II II II II II II II II II II II II II II II II II II II II II II vii

LIST OF TABLES. II II II II II II II II II II II II II II II II II II II II II II II II II II II II II II II II II II II II II II II II II II II II II II II II II II II II II II II II II II II II II II II II II II II II II II II II II II II II II II II X

LIST OF FIGURES ............... II II II II II II II II II II II II II II II II II xi

LIST OF APPENDICES ................. ............................................................. xii

CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION

1.1 Introduction.................................................................................. 1

1.2 Problem Statement. ......... .. ....................................................... ....... 2

1.3 Research Significance .. ............. ...... ......................................... . ........ 3

1.4 Aim and Objectives .................. ...................................................... 3

1.5 Scope of Work................ .................... .. ................. ... .... ................ 3

1.6 Thesis of organisation........................................ .. ...................... ...... 4

CHAPTER 2 LITERA.TURE REVIEW

2.1 Introdu~tion ............... .. ........ ...........,' .......... ... .. ................ .. .... ... 6

2.2 Admixture............ ................ .... ... .. . ..................... .... . ............... 6

2.3 Types of Mineral Admixture (by-product material)

2.3.1 Fly ash ........................................................................ 7

2.3.2 Blast-furnace slag ............... .............. .. .................. .. ........ 8

2.3.3 Silica Fume ........ ....... ................ ................... .............. 9

vii
 2.3.4 Rice Husk ash .............................................................. 9

2.4 The Physical Properties of POFA

2.4.1 Color. ....... . ............................... ....... .......................... 10

2.4.2 Specific gravity ............................................................. 11

2.4.3 Particle shape and size ................................................... 11

2.4.4 Fineness ..................................................................... 13

2.5 The Chemical Properties of POFA .................................................. 13

2.6 Effect of PO FA on the Fresh Properties of Concrete

2.6.1 Workability..................................... .... ...... ......... ........... 14

2.7 Effect of PO FA on the Hardened Properties of Concrete

2.7.1 Compressive Strength ........................................................ 15

2.7.2 Splitting Tensile Stren&t:h .................................................. 17

2.8 Effect of fineness on the Hardened Properties of concrete ...................... 18

2.9 Concluding Remarks ....... ... ............. .. ........... ...... ....................... 19

CHAPTER 3 METHODOLOGY

3.1 General. ..... .. ........................................................ ................. 20

'"
3.2 Material Properties Tests ................... .'......................................... 20

3.3 Materials Used for Research Project

3.3.1 Palm Oil Fuel Ash (POFA) ................................................ 21

3.3.2 Ordinary Portland Cement (OPC) .......................................... 23

3.3.3 Fine Aggregate ............................ .... .................... .... ..................... 23

viii
 3.3.4 Coarse Aggregate ............................................................ 24

3.3.5 Water..................................... .. ........... ....... .................. . 25

3.4 Concrete Mix Proportions

3.4.1 Concrete Mixing .......... .......... .......... .... ... ...................... ........ 26

3.4.2 Concrete Casting .............................................................. 27

3.4.3 Concrete Curing ................................................................ 27

3.5 Fresh Concrete Test

3.5.1 Slump Test. ................................................................... 27

3.6 Hardened Concrete Tests

3.6.1 Compressive Strength Test .................................................. 27

3.6.2 Splitting Tensile Strength Test. .......... .... .............. .. ............. 28

CHAPTER 4 RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

4.1 Introduction........................................... ................. ............... 29

4.2 The Effects of PO FA Fineness on Workability of Concrete......... .. ........ 29

4.3 The Effects of POFA fmeness on Compressive Strength of Concrete.. ........ 30

4.4 The Effects of POF A Fineness on Splitting Tensile Strength of Concre..... 34

CHAPTER 5 CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDA nONS

5.1 Conclusions .............. '" ........... ... ...................... ........................ 38

5.2 Recommendations............. ....................................................... 39

REFERENCES ........................................................................... ............. 41

.'

APPENDICES........ ................. ... ........... ~: ...... ............. ..... ....................... , 45

ix
 LIST OF TABLES

Table 2.1: Physical properties ofunground and ground POFA (Safiuddin et aI., 2011) ....... 10

Table 2.2: Chemical composition ofOPC and PO FA (Source: Awal, 1997; Tangchirapat,

2007; Eldagal, 2008) ..................................................................................... 14

Table 2.3: Effect of POF A on the workability of concrete (Eldagal, 2008; Sata et aI., 2007;

Tay,1990)................. ................................................................................ 15

Table 3.1: Aggregates Properties Laboratory Tests ................................................. 21

Table 3.2: Chemical composition of OPC ASTM Type 1.. ........................................ 23

Table 3.3: Physical properties of fine aggregate ........ ...... ......... ..... ............. . ... .... ... 23

Table 3.4: Physical properties of coarse aggregate .......... ........ .......................... .. ..... 24

Table 3.5: Mix Proportion .......... .. .............................. .. ............................ ...... 26

Table 4.1: Slump ... ......... ... . .. ........................................... ...... ........ . . .. . . . ........ 29

Table 4.2: Compressive strength for 3, 7 and 28 days ........ .................... . ................. 31

Table 4.3: Splitting tensile strength for 3, 7 and 28 days ........ ...... ............................ 35

x
 LIST OF FIGURES

Figure 2.1: OPC (Chindaprasirt et aI., 2007) ....................................................... 12

Figure 2.2: Unground POF A (Jaturapitakkul et aI., 2007) ....................... .. ............... 12

Fjgure 2.3: Ground POFA Jaturapitakkul et aI., 2007) ............................................ 12

Figure 2.4: Particle size distribution ofunground and ground POFA and OPC (Sata et aI.,

2004).............. .. ............... . ........ .. ..................... . ...... .. ............... .. ............ 12

Figure 2.5: Effect ofunground POFA on the compressive strength of concrete at 28 days (Tay,

1990)... . ...... .. ........ . ............. .... .. ................. ... ................ . . .. ................ ..... 17

Figure 2.6: Effect of ground POF A on the compressive strength at different test ages

(Tangchirapat et aI., 2009) .... . .................................... ................................... 17

Figure 2.7: Effect of ground POFA on the splitting tensile strength of concrete (Sata et aI.,

2007)..................................... .. .............................................................. 18

Figure 3.1: POFA.......... ...................... .. : .................... .. ...................... . ...... 22

Figure 3.2: Sieved POFA ..... .... ............... .. ........ . ................... . ........................ 22

Figure 3.3: Sieve analysis for sand ......................... .. ... .................. .. .............. . . 24

Figure 3.4: Sieve analysis for coarse aggregate ............................ . .......... .... .. ...... . 25

Figure 4.1: The Slump ..... . ...... ,... . .......... .. . .. . .. ................. .... ................. .. ...... 30

Figure 4.2: Compressive Strength for 3, 7 and 28 days ........................................... 33

Figure 4.3: Splitting Tensile Strength for 3, 7 and 28 days ....................................... 37

 LIST OF APPENDICES

APPENDIX A Processes of Specific Gravity of Coarse Aggregate ........................... 45

APPENDIX B Processes of Specific Gravity of Fine Aggreagte ............................... 46

APPENDIX C Processes of Concrete Mixing, Casting and Curing .................... . ..... .. 48

APPENDIX D Processes of Slump Test.. .......................................................... 50

APPENDIX E Processes of Compressive Strength Test.. ............... ........................ 51

APPENDIX F Processes of Splitting Tensile Strength Test. .................................... 52

xii
 CHAPTER 1

INTRODUCTION

1.1. Introduction

Concrete is usually a composite material that is used in civil engineering construction work. It

is typically a mixture of cement, water, aggregate and also other admixtures. Concrete is

strong in compression because the aggregate has the ability to carry the compression load;

however it is extremely weak in tension.

Cement consists of adhesive and cohesive properties which enable it to bond mineral

fragments into a solid mass. Cement contains silicates and aluminates of lime which are made

from blended and ground limestone and clay. According to Dobrowolski (1998), portland

cement is the most commonly used hydraulic ~ement for making concrete around the world. It

is considered as the most significant component of hydraulic cement which hardens due to

hydration, a chemical reaction between cement powder and water. In concrete design and

quality control, strength is the property usually specified. The water-cementitious materials

ratio, the extent of hydration, the curing and environmental conditions are the main factors

that influence the strength of concrete. The ultimate compressive strength and rate of strength

development of concrete are also greatly dependent on the chemical and physical properties of

the cement.

Higher demands for construction works have contributed to augmentation of cement

production as one of the main components of concrete manufacture. As a result, the

production of cement leads to increase the concern of global warming as CO2 emission is

released to atmosphere. However, the variety of studies about various supplementary

cementing material involved in concrete production has been conducted in recent years.

Nowadays, the use of various supplementary cementing materials such as Fly Ash, Blast

Furnace Slag, Silica Fume, Rice husk Ash and other fiber and pozzolanic material are gaining

popularity due to increasingly stringent environmental legislation. In addition, the use of

various supplementary cementing materials is also a common practice since they are

significantly reducing the cement content and improve the ultimate strength of the concrete.

In this study, the study about the use of Palm Oil Fuel Ash (POF A) as a supplementary

cementing material in concrete production is carried out. The influence of POFA and its

degree of fmeness on the mechanical properties of concrete is investigated. In Malaysia, palm

oil industry is considered as the most important agro industries. POF A is a by-product which

is generated from the combustion of palm oil plant residues. In this study, POF A is used as a

pozzolanic material and also a replacement of cement in concrete to produce cementitious

properties. Pozzolan is defined as a siliceous or siliceous and aluminous material where the

particles react with calcium hydroxide from the cement to produce cementitious properties.

The utilization of pozzolanic material in concrete would reduce the negative environmental

effect and landfill volume for the disposal of wastes.

1.2. Problem Statement

The presence of palm oil wastes has created a major disposal problem due to a large amount

of solid waste materials is produced such as palm fiber, nutshells and empty fruit bunches

from palm oil industry which is burnt at temperatures of about 800-1000 C as fuels to

provide steam for electricity generation in palm oil mills. After the burning process, an ash

by-product are obtained, which is about 5% by weight of the residues known as palm oil fuel

ash (pOFA). It has been reported that around 4 million tons/years of POFA are produced in

Malaysia only (Zarina, 2012). While the quantity of POFA is rising annually, its utilization is

limited and basically disposed of as a waste in landfills without any profitable return. It can

also affect environmental problems such as health hazards and financial loss.

1.3. Research Significance

There are several significances in this research project. Firstly, PDFA is incorporated as

supplementary cementing material in the concrete mix as to promote the use of agricultural

waste and create a more sustainable environment besides its own ability to improve strength

development of concrete. Next, it is also important that to obtain a mix proportion to produce

concrete incorporated with PDF A and studies the mechanical properties of concrete in term of

compressive strength and splitting tensile strength.

1.4. Aim and Objectives

The aim of this research project is to conduct an experimental testing program to determine

the effects of PDF A fineness on the mechanical properties of concrete. The objectives of the

research project are:

1. To obtain a mix proportion containing different PDF A fineness which can achieve a

targeted strength of 30 N/mm 2 at 28 days and slump of 60mm-180mm

II. To study the mechanical properties of concr~te by using POFA with 3 different

fineness which are passing through 38wn, 631!m and 751!m

1.S. Scope of work

The study focuses on the effect of PDF A fineness on the mechanical properties of concrete.

The study only limited to test for three types of PDF A fineness which are 381!m, 631!ffi and

75JlM with 15% PDFA replacement. Three laboratories experimental tests is carried out,

namely slump test, compressive strength test and splitting tensile strength test. The slump test

is carried out to detennine the workability of fresh concrete. The concrete sample is cured in

the water and tested for 3 days, 7 days and 28 days strength. Consequently, two mechanical

properties of concrete such as compressive strength and splitting tensile strength will be tested

in this study.

1.6. Thesis Organisation

This report contains five chapters which are introduction, literature review, methodology,

result and discussion and conclusion respectively.

Chapter I discuss the general background of the research, problem statement, scope of work,

aim and objectives and thesis significance.

Chapter 2 discuss the admixture which is also one of the components of concrete mix. Besides

that, a general background for four types of pozzolanic materials such as fly ash, blast furnace

slag, silica fume and rice husk ash will be discussed in this chapter. In addition, the properties

of PDFA such as physical and chemical composition will also be discussed in this chapter.

Moreover, a previous study about the effect of PDF A on the mechanical properties of

concrete will be studied. Lastly, a previous research about the effect of fineness on properties

of concrete will be also discussed.

Chapter 3 explain various laboratory tests will be carried out in this chapter. In this chapter,

three laboratory experiments will be conducted such as slump test, compressive strength test

and splitting tensile strength test. In addition, experiment setups will be stated in this chapter.

r-~--'.-----~-----p~;r:Khld ma t Mak1umat Akauemil<

UNIVERSrn MALAYSIA SAltAWAI<

Chapter 4 generally presents and discusses about the result of each laboratory tests that

conducted in tenn of compressive strength and splitting tensile strength.

Chapter 5 conclude the whole study has been conducted. A conclusion has been drawn with

relevant objectives stated based on the result achieved from this study. Besides that, there are

few recommendations will be listed in this chapter.

 CHAPTER 2

LITERATURE REVIEW

2.1 Introduction

During recent decades, there are many researchers have been carried out for the use of

admixture in concrete mixture such as fly ash, blast-furnace slag, silica fume, rice husk ash

and also palm oil fuel ash. Besides that, the properties of POF A are also briefly discussed and

previous study about the effects of POF A on the mechanical properties of concrete are also

reviewed. Lastly, previous study about the effects of fineness on the properties of concrete are

also reviewed.

2.2 Admixture

Admixture is used as an additional material which is added to concrete mixtures. It is varying

widely in chemical composition, from surfactants and soluble salts to polymers and insoluble

minerals. The properties of concrete such as workability, strength, and durability can be

improved by adding admixtures to concrete batch (Monte rio & Mehta, 2006). Besides that,

the use of admixture in concrete mixtures may also increase or decrease the cost of concrete

by lowering the required cement content, changing the volume of the concrete mixture, or

reducing the cost of concrete placing and finishing. Thus, admixture plays an important role

in concrete mixtures. Admixture can be categorised into 2 categorise which is mineral

admixture (fly ash, silica fume and others) and chemical admixture (air-entering agents,

accelerators, water-reducing admixtures. However, mineral admixtures are more emphasized

in this study and used as supplementary cementitious material for producing concrete.

6
Mineral admixtures are categorised into 2 classifications which are natural materials and by

product materials. Some mineral admixtures can be pozzolanic, cementitious, and however

others are both cementitious and pozzolanic (Monterio & Mehta, 2006). Natural materials are

defined as a material that has been treated for the only purpose of making a pozzolan.

Generally, the process involves crushing, grinding, and size separation; occasionally it may

also include thermal activation. On the other hand, by-product materials are defined as a

material that is not the primary products which produced from industry. It mayor may not

require any processing before use as mineral admixtures.

However, by-product materials are more highlighted in this study. Consequently, the physiGal

and chemical and mineralogical properties of palm oil fuel ash (PDF A) will be further

discussed in this study. Besides that, effect of PDFA on the mechanical properties of concrete

will be also discussed in this study.

2.3 Types of Mineral Admixtures from By-product

A variety of by-product materials such as fly ash, blast-furnace slag, silica fume, rice husk ash

and others have been commonly used as pozzolanic materials in concrete. The utilization of

pozzolanic material not only enhances the properties of concrete, but also protects the

environment.

2.3.1 Fly Ash

According to Day (2006), fly ash is also known as pulverized fuel ash which is produced from

the combustion of coal in thermal power plants. During combustion, the mineral impurities

such as clays, quartz and feldspar melt in suspension at the high temperature and float out

with the flue gas stream. As the fused material rises, it is transported to low temperature zones

allow it cools and then it solidifies as spherical particles of glass which are called fly ash. This

fly ash is collected from the flue gas stream by mechanical separators, electrostatic

precipitation or bag filters (Nawy, 2008). Fly ash can be categorised into two different types

which are Class C and Class F (ASTM C 618-78). Class C ash is consists of high-calcium fly

ashes with carbon content less than 2 %, while Class F ash contains low-calcium fly ashes

with carbon content less than 5% but sometimes as high as 10%. Class C ash is usually

obtained from burning sub-bituminous or lignite coals; whereas, Class F ashes are obtained

from burning bituminous or anthracite coals. The chemical and physical properties of the ash

have significant impact on the performance properties between Class F and C ashes. The

physical properties of fly ashes are depending to the source. Fly ash is a fine-grained material

which contains spherical, glassy particles. The particles can be irregular or angular shapes and

its size is depending on the sources. The particles of fly ash may be finer or coarser than

Portland cement particles. On the other hand, the mineralogical properties of fly ash are

significant influenced by both the type and source of fly ash. Fly ash contains noncrystalline

particles or glass and a small quantity of crystalline material as result from the rapid cooling

ofburned coal in the power plant.

2.3.2 Blast-Furnace Slag

Blast-furnace slag is a by-product of the production of iron (Nawy, 2008). When it is quickly

cool down with water to glassy state and finely ground, thus the property of latent

hydraulicity will be developed (Nawy, 2008). Nowadays, the use of blast-furnace slag as an

admixture in concrete is well established. In the early 1970s, glassy slag was produced by

using pelletizing process which uses much less water than granulation methods. Firstly, a

treatment with water sprays is used to expand the molten slag and then passed over a rotating

8
fInned drum. Lastly, the semi molten material is cooled and pelletized by throwing them into

the air.

2.3.3 SUtea Fume

Silica fume is a byproduct of the production of metallic silicon or ferrosilicon alloys which is

produced by electric arc furnaces (Nawy, 2008). The two main components such as the types

of alloy fonned and the composition of quartz and coal are commonly used in the electric arc

furnaces which are significantly influence the chemical composition of silica fume. The

majority ofpublished data indicates that the utilization of silica fume in concrete must contain

at least 75% ferro silicon.

2.3.4 Rice Husk Ash

Rice husk ash is a by-product of the agricultural industry which is produced from burning a

mixture of rice husk and eucalyptus bark by fluidized bed combustion process in a biomass

power plant. It consists of high amount of Si02 . Silica content in the ash increases with higher

the burning temperature. Many researches described that rice husk ash consists of high

reactivity and pozzolanic property after burning process at controlled temperature. Chemical

composition of rice husk ash is greatly influenced by the temperature during burning

processes.

2.4 The PbysieaJ Properties of POFA

According to AbdullaH et al. (2006), the burning temperature condition is one of factors that

significantly influence the physical properties of POFA. Several of physical properties of

9
 Wlground and ground POF A used in various studies are shown in Table 2.1. These all

properties ofunground and ground POFA are briefly discussed below.

Table 2.1: Physical properties of unground and ground POFA (Safiuddin et al., 2011)

Properties OPC Unground POFA Ground PO FA

Color Grey Light grey/whitish Dark grey

Specific gravity 3.14-3.28 1.78-1.97 2.22-2.78

Median particle size, ds o (urn) 10-20 54.3-183 7.2-10.1

% Passing through 45-urn sieve 5.6-58.8 97-99

(% mass)

Specific surface area, Blaine 314-358 796 882-1244

(m2/kg)

Strength activity index (%) 78.6-115

SOWldness, Le Chatelier 0.45-1 0.5-2.6

expansion (mm)

1.4.1 Color

UngroWld POFA is usually in light grey color as results from the unburnt carbon content left

at relatively low burning temperature. The content of unburnt carbon becomes very low when

the burning temperature is high. Besides that, unground POF A can also be whitish color in the

absence of unburnt carbon (Abdullah et al 2006). On the other hand, ground POFA is dark

grey color.

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1.4.1 Specific Gravity

The specific gravity of unground POFA is normally varies in the range of 1.78-1.97. From

Table 2.1 above, it can be seen that the specific gravity of unground POF A is about 40%

lower than the specific gravity of ope (Tay, 1990). However, the specific gravity of POF A is

increased and it is about in the range of 2.22-2.78 after the grinding process (Sata et al., 2004;

Tangchirapat et al., 2009). It is because the particle size of POF A is reduced and then the

porosity also decreased as results from grinding processes.

1.4.3 Particle Shape and Size

The particle shape and size of unground POF A is different as compare to ground POF A. It

was found that the particle shape and size are mostly large, spherical and porous as shown in

Figure 2.2. In contrast, ground POF A is quite similar to Portland cement which crushed

particle is usually in irregular and angular shape as shown in Figure 2.1 & 2.3. ( Chindaprasirt

et al., 2007) The particle size of unground POFA is larger than OPC; however, the particle

size of ground POF A is smaller than OPe. The typical particle size distributions of unground

and ground POF A and ope are shown in Figure 2.4. The median particle size of unground

POFA is about 54.3)lm -183)lm which is larger than ope which is in the range of I011m -20
1Jlll. However, the particle size of POFA is decreased to 7.2)lffi -lO.1)lm after grinding

processes (Sata et al., .2 004; Chindaprasit et at , 2008).

11
Figure 2.1: OPC (Chindaprasirt et ai., 2007) Figure 2.2: Unground POFA (Jaturapitakkul

et ai., 2007)

Figure 2.3: Ground POFA (Jaturapitakkul et ai., 2007)

100 r.=;::=:I!II::::~~iITin"""TI-1M!'''-7I1
1 ,; rriT'iT:1
. . Ground POFA JI'!:l jill
90 ... ope mill J II
80 . . U"O'OUnd POFA t++tt+-l~I11H
III IIT~+IIiI--+++IH
70 ~~t+~~UU~~~
I IIIV -J~~U
oo ~~U~~~Hm+M~~~I~~~
! 50 +-+tttlitlt-+-I!i+Itflt-+f+T"MIlH-i'++IHIt-;I!+tt+Ilt-i~
~ 40 +-r-l#li!M-.;..=-+W,II--l-+4R-++I
I N+-i1

JlIIlt r-H+fllf-++I......
~ ~~~I~~~~~J~Ir+~
2o ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I I

10 ~~~~.~~A~~~_I_I~~~

o 1 w
001 01 10 ,00 1000 10000

Particle size (~m)

Figure 2.4: Particle size distribution of un ground and ground POFA and OPC (Sata et ai.,

2004)

12