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Embodied Energy of Rice Husk Ash for Sustainable Cement Production

Cameron S. Henry, Joan G. Lynam

PII: S2666-0164(20)30002-5
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cscee.2020.100004
Reference: CSCEE 100004

To appear in: Case Studies in Chemical and Environmental Engineering

Received Date: 12 December 2019

Revised Date: 23 February 2020
Accepted Date: 4 March 2020

Please cite this article as: C.S. Henry, J.G. Lynam, Embodied Energy of Rice Husk Ash for Sustainable
Cement Production, Case Studies in Chemical and Environmental Engineering, https://doi.org/10.1016/
j.cscee.2020.100004.

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1 Embodied Energy of Rice Husk Ash for Sustainable Cement Production

2 Cameron S. Henrya and Joan G. Lynama*

a
3 Biotechnology Laboratory, Bogard Hall M116A, Department of Chemical Engineering,

4 Louisiana Tech University, 600 Dan Reneau Dr, Ruston, LA 71270, USA

6 Abstract:

7 After water, concrete is the second most used material in the world. Using life cycle assessments,

8 concrete has typically been found to be 80% of a residential building by weight. Cement

9 production consumes large amounts of energy, motivating a search for sustainable alternatives.

10 Rice husk ash produced in controlled combustion has been found to be a viable replacement for

11 cement. Renewable and sustainable, rice husks have the potential to produce energy while

12 yielding an ash product for use in concrete. A “cradle to gate” Embodied Energy study

13 incorporated the combustion process and transportation of rice husk ash to a concrete mixing

14 facility. The main energy losses in the process were found to be furnace inefficiency, feed

15 preheating, and auxiliary equipment. Rice husk ash transportation was found to be unimportant

16 in comparison. For one kg of pozzolanic rice husk ash an embodied energy of -26 MJ was found,

17 with the negative sign indicating that energy is produced in the overall process. A comparison of

18 rice husk ash’s embodied energy to the high and positive embodied energy of Portland cement

19 should encourage further investigation into replacing some of cement binder with pozzolanic rice

20 husk ash for use in building materials.

21 Keywords: Rice hull ash; OPC; Pozzolan; Cyclonic furnace; Sustainable; Biomass

22
23 *Corresponding author

24 Graphical Abstract

25

26

27

28 1. Introduction

29 Cement, the binder that glues together aggregate to form concrete, is one of the three major

30 contributors to the energy cost of building construction [1]. Manufacturing of cement consumes

31 10.5 EJ (an EJ is 1018 J) of world energy and produces approximately 5% of the world's CO2

32 emissions [2]. One common method for reducing energy use and CO2 emissions is attempting to

33 replace the standard ordinary Portland cement (OPC) with other cementitious materials that are

34 more sustainably produced [3]. Ashes from already-transported food byproducts represent an

35 attractive renewable resource.

36 The rough rice grain (paddy rice) is harvested and transported to central locations where it is

37 hulled, separating the husk from brown rice. Rice husks, about 20% of the harvested grain, are

38 removed after the grain has been transported for processing. Vast quantities of rice husks are

39 disposed of in landfills. Controlled combustion of rice husks can produce a 20% yield of rice

40 husk ash (RHA) that is beneficial to cement properties (increasing structural strength and

2
41 durability) as an additive (a pozzolan), as well as providing renewable energy from this waste

42 product [4-9]. After being added to cement binder, RHA becomes part of the structure of the

43 poured concrete product. It remains inert in concrete structures, which typically do not require

44 replacing for ~100 years. When concrete is replaced, it can be broken down to form aggregate

45 for reuse, and the RHA remains bound in this aggregate. Thus, RHA does not need to be

46 disposed of after its use in concrete. Despite these findings, RHA is not typically added to

47 cement in concrete production. Since 480 million metric tons of rice is produced annually in Asia

48 and in the United States and many of the husks generated are landfilled, the production of more

49 cement using RHA could have far-reaching environmental implications [10]. The more energy

50 that is required to produce a material, the higher the energy cost and the more CO2 that is

51 released into the atmosphere. Knowledge of the embodied energy difference between RHA and

52 ordinary Portland cement (OPC) would be an impetus to increased use of RHA in building

53 materials. We have performed an Embodied Energy (EE) study to quantify how much energy is

54 consumed or produced per kg of RHA from husks that are combusted at different temperatures

55 and then transported to a concrete mixing facility. We have also compared the EE of delivered

56 RHA to that of OPC, for which RHA is a potential substitute.

57 2. Experimental methods

58 Experimental methods

59 Rice husks used to determine the fuel value for the study were obtained from Falcon Rice Mill

60 (Crowley, Louisiana). Higher heating value was found from a bomb calorimeter (Parr

61 Instrument Company, Moline, Illinois, USA). RHA was produced by preheating rice husks to

62 301 °C and then ashing them at 575 °C to produce white RHA.

63 Embodied Energy (EE) Analysis Method

3
64 Fig. 1 shows an overview of the process used to calculate the EE. A modern cyclonic furnace,

65 structured around a cyclonic combustion chamber was designed to assure operator safety

66 (outside temperature of furnace surface 37.8 °C), with furnace inefficiency, preheating

67 requirements, furnace wall heat conduction, and auxiliary equipment power consumption all

68 assessed [9]. Combustion of 1000 kg of rice husks was assumed, commensurate with a rice mill

Preheating Electric
Energy Energy

Raw rice Pre-Heating Cyclonic

husks at rice (301 °C) Furnace
mill (575 °C)

Recovered
Heat

Transportation Transportation to Finished

energy (fuel) concrete mixing pozzolanic
facility (20 miles) RHA
Combustio
69

70 Figure 1 Rice husk ash life cycle overview. Green represents energy produced, and red energy

71 consumed.

72 operating for 24 hours and processing 41.66 kg/hr of rice husks, keeping a constant grate

73 thermal load value of 69.2 kg/m2-hr [11]. A sensitivity analysis, varying the temperature of

74 combustion 25 °C above and below 575 °C was performed to find the effect on EE. A truckload

75 of RHA in 21 supersacks (1000 kg each) was assumed to be transported 20 miles for a concrete

76 mixing facility. Table SI1 in the Supplementary Information (SI) shows the constants assumed,

4
77 with the rice husk calorific value that we measured to be 7559 kJ/kg. We measured the density of

78 RHA to be 1300 kg/m3. Since rice husks must be produced at rice mills, no energy costs for their

79 transportation or separation prior to burning is considered. We have measured rice husks to yield

80 20% white ash after combustion as described in Fig. 1. Therefore, 5 kg of rice husks are required

81 to produce 1 kg of RHA. All calculations are shown in the SI Numerical Calculation Section.

82 Results and Discussion

83 The flue gas heat content useful for drying rice, HFlue was calculated as 6607 at 575

84 °C, 6275 for 550 °C, and 6933 for 600 °C. Efficiency for the cyclonic

85 furnace combustion stage, Ecomb, was calculated from as 87.4% at 575 °C, 83.0% 550 °C, and

86 91.7% for 600 °C. Therefore, burning at a lower temperature would not be advantageous from an

87 efficiency standpoint, but 600 °C might be desirable if it did not give more unwanted cristobalite

88 [12]. The energy consumption due to inefficiency per kg of husk fired was calculated as

89 952 for 575 °C combustion, 1284 at 550 °C and 626 at 600 °C.

90 The conduction loss was calculated to be 226.8 kJ/kg rice husk, assuming a 3% loss across the

91 insulation [11]. Preheating energy was calculated as 757

for 575 °C, 723

92 for 550 °C, and 792

for 600 °C. The energy consumption for auxiliary equipment was

93 calculated as 419 . Weight regulations allow 21,000 kg of RHA per truckload [13].

94 The diesel fuel consumption per km (FC) was calculated as 0.321 L/km for a transportation cost

95 of 3.8 . The overall RHA EE is multiplied by 5 to account for the rice husks required

96 to produce RHA (Table 1).

97

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98 Table 1. Overall Energy balance results

Energy Energy used or Energy Energy

gained or lost as % of gained or lost gained or lost
Energy Category per
lost (kJ/kg) husk (kJ/kg) for (kJ/kg) for
kg rice husk
for 575 °C combustion 550 °C 600 °C
energy (575 °C)
Husk Combustion -7559 -7559 -7559

Furnace Inefficiency +952 +12.6% +1284 +626

Losses
Furnace Wall +226.8 +3.0% +226.8 +226.8
Conduction
Feed Preheating +757 +10.0% +723 +792

Auxiliary Equipment +419 +5.5% +419 +419

RHA Transportation +3.8 +0.05% +3.8 +3.8

Total Embodied Energy -5200 -4903 -5492

(EE kJ/kg rice husk)
EE kJ/kg RHA -26,000 -24,515 -27460

99

6
100

101

102 Figure 2 Summary of individual process energy losses as a % of total energy losses for

103 combustion at a) 550 °C with total energy loss of 2657 kJ/kg rice husk, b) 575 °C with total

104 energy loss of 2359 kJ/kg rice husk, c) 600 °C with total energy loss of 2068 kJ/kg rice husk.

105 As can be seen in Table 1 and Fig. 2, the highest proportion of energy loss in producing RHA at

106 the lowest combustion temperature of 550 °C was found to be furnace inefficiency. As

107 temperature of combustion increased, the proportion of energy loss from furnace inefficiency

108 decreased, with feed preheating requiring more energy. At the lowest combustion temperature

109 total energy loss is highest. As combustion temperature increases, total energy loss decreases, but

110 the pozzolanic grade RHA desired might not be produced at too high a combustion temperature.

111 Proportionally, smaller losses were found from auxiliary equipment and loss of heat through the

112 furnace walls. Transportation of the RHA had a minor impact on energy loss (<0.2%) and, even

113 if the assumed distance were tripled, would remain negligible.

114 OPC has been estimated to have an EE per kg of 4600 kJ/kg (4.6 MJ/kg) [14], 5850 kJ/kg (5.85

115 MJ/kg) [1], or 6400 kJ/kg (6.4 MJ/kg) [15]. If 20% of OPC is replaced with RHA and the

116 average of the three cited EE estimates for OPC is used, the resulting cement binder would have

7
117 an EE of -704 kJ (-0.704 MJ) per kg of cement binder for a combustion temperature of 575 °C.

118 For 550 °C and 600 °C combustion temperatures, EE can be calculated as -407 kJ/ kg cement

119 binder and -996 kJ/ kg cement binder, respectively. Thus, replacing OPC with RHA in cement

120 for buildings would involve generating useful energy, rather than requiring energy for its

121 production.

122 On a material scale, replacing some of the OPC with RHA as a supplementary cementitious

123 material would reduce Portland cement consumption and thus minimize the carbon footprint that

124 is emitted due to cement production. When extrapolated to a building scale, the use of RHA to

125 replace some cement binder would decrease the EE value substantially and lead to a more

126 sustainably-built environment. However, more study is needed to completely determine the

127 sustainability of RHA as a cement replacement.

128

129 4. Conclusion

130 This EE analysis focused on the process of pozzolanic (white ash) RHA production to substitute

131 in part for Portland cement in building materials. Both the combustion of rice husks and

132 transportation of RHA were considered. Assuming that the energy recovered from burning the

133 husk material is used for drying at the rice mill where the cyclonic furnace is co-located, we

134 found that the production of RHA is highly sustainable, with an EE of -26 MJ per kg of RHA,

135 with the negative sign indicating that energy is produced in the overall process. Comparing the

136 EE of RHA with that of OPC, found in the literature to be between +4.6 MJ/kg [14] and +6.4

137 MJ/kg [15], the potential for more sustainable building materials is clear if RHA is incorporated

138 with OPC.

139

8
140 Acknowledgements

141 The authors want to acknowledge the support of the Louisiana Board of Regents Research

142 competiveness Subprogram (award # LEQSF(2017-20)-RD-A11), EPA Region 6 P2 program

143 (NP-01F55301), and the LaSPACE Research Enhancement Award (Grant number 32-4111-

144 40354, Subcontract No. PO-0000072813).

145 Note: The authors have no competing financial interests.

146

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