using silica from rice husk ash in making cement to be used in
interlocking bricks industry
Key words: Silica – interlocking bricks – muffle furnace – power logic system
Purpose
Nowadays, the industry is the key to the progress and the development
of the country. It can be essential in the management of the economic
situations in the country ,so why do not we work on a type of industry
to improve it ?
Background research
Before selecting our solution, we made an extensive research about the industry of
Egypt and the problems that influences it. We found that the industry is the key to
the progress and the development of the country. It can be essential in the
management of the economic situations in the country so by solving the industrial
problems that faces us this semester (increasing the efficiency of a certain
industrial process) we will make a great effect to the complex chain that relate to
these problem Our capstone challenge this semester is in the industrial base and as
we know Egypt suffers from many problems in many industries especially in the
industries which have bad consequences and bad effects on our health and on our
economy which will effect on our education system and health system and will have
a tremendous effect on our society, so the problem or the challenge that we have in
this semester is to develop the industrial base in Egypt to solve the problem which
found in these industries. So, we decided to choose a type of industry (interlocking
bricks + cement) and to identify the gap which is found in this industry and then
try to solve its future impact or to solve its consequences.
But first we studied some of the prior solution that are related to the problem
facing us as the prior solution had many advantages and disadvanta0ges that we
can take an idea from for example clay brick, it is more resistant to harsher
weather condition and more reliable for using in permanent buildings, but it was
require a high amount of thermal energy and too much cement to be attached
together and harmful for the environment. Also, there was the cement brick its
advantage is that its strength is higher than the normal bricks and easy to control
its color, the downside is that it takes about 5 days to be ready to use.
Hypothesis
• our hypothesis in our project exists in that farmers won’t burn rice husk
ash in the farm which leads for pollution as they will sell it so pollution
rate will decrease be 35%
• the price of cement will decrease be 20 % .
• building a house won’t take more than a week to be built .
Materials
• HCL-sulfuric acid – muffle furnace
Variables
Our dependent variables are :
• Rice husk ash burns between 600 to 750 c degree.
• we can extract about 200 gm to 300 gm of silica from 1kg of rice husk
ash
• cement usage decreased in building by ratio of 60 % but it may decrease
to 50% only
• The process that we used to make our brick produce only 56.79 kg/m3 of
carbon dioxide but it may decrease for 51.37 kg/m3 .
Abstract
One of the scariest challenges that faces our dear Egypt is industry
deterioration. It is a very difficult challenge as it faces most of the
countries around the world. It is connected with the economy as if any
country did not succeed solving this problem, it will have a
deterioration in economy too. After a lot of researching for a solution
to this problem including the prior solutions, A decent solution has
been reached. It consists of two parts: ( the interlocking bricks) and
(rice husk ash cement). The interlocking bricks are some kind of new
bricks that contain less cement with a higher strength and efficiency
and also with a lower cost. As for the rice husk ash cement this cement
is produced by low cost and it help us to reduce the cost and silica
inside (RHA) is have purity about 99.9%. The design requirements
chosen are: (strength-efficiency-cost-environment friendly). The
prototype that has been selected is the machine that makes the
interlocking bricks and it’s called (auto press machine). Moreover,
after a lot of trying and non-good results, a great results have been
accomplished represents in: (strong-low cost bricks with a high
efficiency-low cost cement). We finally concluded that we had to
decrease the amount of the cement again until 8%. By that percent of
cement it has been concluded that we can do it well and decrease
amount of cost energy used until 40% .
Basel Abdulsalam Abdulghani Ahmed
Procedures
“my powers are ordinary. Only my application brings me success.” We began
to make a prototype to make sure that this project will succeed and will meet
the design requirements when it is applied in the future. We tried it for two
times as in the first time the purity of rice husk ash wasn’t high enough in the
second time we leached it carefully so it achieved the design requirements so
our steps of making the prototype are: Firstly. we bring rice husk ash, then
we wash it by water to clean it. secondly, we leached rice husk ash by using
HCL to remove heavy metals which leads to increase the purity of silica that
we will have from It. Third, we put it in Muffle furnace on 650 C and left it
for 15 minutes. Fourth We take silica from it and use it in cement industry by
chemical combination of calcium, silicon, aluminum, iron and other
ingredients as Common materials used to manufacture cement include
limestone, shells, and chalk or marl combined with shale, clay, slate, blast
furnace slag, silica sand, and iron ore. These ingredients, when heated at high
temperatures form a rock-like substance that is ground into the fine powder
that we commonly think of as cement.
Then, our prototype goes two main part: The first one is the making of the
press machine: • We calculate the dimensions of the compress arm and the
MOULD and the outer body of the machine. -We started cutting the steel in a
work shop to get the MOULD and to get the compress arm. - • At the end, we
connect them together to get our press machine. The second one is the
making of the brick: To make the brick, we start to mix (mud, sand and
cement) manually then put the water and mix them again. • After finishing
we put the mixture into the machine and close its door then start to compress
the mixture by rotating the arm to make mixture take the shape of the brick .
• After 5 minutes, we get the brick out and let it dry for 4 hours.• After
drying, it gets ready to make our test .
Data
In this table it makes a comparison
between the two trials to reach to
The perfect way to have more pure
Silica as there is a difference
Between two trials in the way of
Leaching rice husk ash ,also there
Is a difference in the heat energy
Used to burn rice husk ash . And
The second trial has succeeded.
graphs
Graph (1) Graph (2) Graph (3)
Graph (4)
Figure (2)
Figure
(1)
Table (1)
Analysis
After the test that we have made for our prototype and after measuring the
efficiency we proved that we achieve the design requirements which are
increasing in the efficiency, environmental Impact and cost.
In our project this semester we decided to reduce the cost in the industrial base
in Egypt , to do our aim we decide to mix three solutions to reach our goal
 The first one is (the Rice Husk Ash):
RHA acts as a pozzolan, so you need to have a certain amount of cement in the
mixture which hydrates to produce calcium hydroxide. As RHA is almost pure
silica, the optimum amount might be close to what has been used for silica fume
- close to the 5-10% by mass of cement you are using now. Moreover, since
RHA absorbs water from the mix due to its fine pore structure, the optimum
amount may also depend on the rheology of the mixture and on how much
superplasticizer you want to add.
Silica is cleaned by (hall-sulfuric acid)and distilled water and it extracted from
(RHA) with 600 degree instead of 1500 degree.
 The second one is the interlocking bricks:
As shown in results our interlocking bricks will be able to work as its succeeded
in tests and accomplished all the design requirements and by this it will solve
the industrial base problem in Egypt, but the main point is that our project
work and apply in the real life (applicable).
 The following is a detailed analysis of our approach to solve this problem That make this
brick reduce the amount of used cement on construction that its save a lot of amount of
cement which reduce the cost, when they make a wall by using interlocking bricks they
need 4.8 kg/SQM comparing to the same wall but when we use a clay bricks (normal
bricks) it used 12.7kg/SQM approximately more than 60% and had a beauty shape that
differentiates it from clay bricks that is used in normal construction that makes us to
break up with eliminate plastering and painting our interface of our homes.
also, this brick had a lot of addition benefits like (fire proof, sound resistant, bullet proof)
when we compare interlocking bricks and clay bricks we found that the interlocking brick
is more efficient than the clay bricks(ordinary one). These things make our project met a
lot of design requirements such as:
 Cost
Main part of our problem is to make a solution with a relatively low cost .For example, if
we have a machine does something and its cost is defined, we can decrease its cost by
removing the unneeded parts and still doing its job on the same way.
we can also replace some materials with other materials lower in cost and have the same or
higher efficiency. As we said our interlocking bricks are reduce the used amount of cement
about 8% percent so that it decrease a lot amount of cost here. Another one is by reducing
cost in making cement as we see in results that the cement made by (RHA) is used about
600 degree instead of 1500 degree so that it reduce the cost in cement industry about 40%
 Efficiency
As we see in (table(2)) the interlocking bricks is better than the clay bricks as it has higher
strength and durability and its production is too fast as it produce about 6 bricks per
minute, also the interlocking bricks does not required a high temperature to be constructed
like the clay one, the only disadvantage is that its machine cost is more expensive than the
clay bricks machine cost but it’s not a problem as it is cheaper than the clay bricks in
material cost and the construction system, so after a long time we will get that money back.
 Environmental impact
More than 60% of carbon dioxide that exist in the air nowadays is produced by industry,
use of cement and clay bricks produce carbon dioxide as it depends on burning of cement
and other component to be constructed, our brick didn`t need brick burning as it depends
only on pressure that compressed the brick and make it ready for using, we also reduce the
amount of cement that use to make brick and that would solve the carbon dioxide problem
and make our project green to environment. (Outcome: CH.1.17) As shown in graph() the
interlocking bricks use the least percentage of electricity but what about making it? It
contains a very cheap material which is sand, mud, cement and water which are available
and easy to reach by people, and that make it passes about 10 machines (outcome: ES.2.09)
High Speed Automatic Mixer: Up to 1,000kg mixing capacity. Under 3 minutes. Specially
designed to mix soil, sand and cement. Homogeneously.
Soil Crusher: Crushed raw soils to the finest. Using the finest blade materials.
Homogeneously.
Weighing Station: Every batch of soil and sand is weighed. Giving the most consistent
strength and dimension.
Cement Silo: Cement stored securely.
Elevator Box: Eliminating buffer time by lifting whole batch of soil and sand directly to the
mixer with just one drop.
Screw Conveyor: Deliver cement powder directly from cement silo to the mixer.
Platform: Solid enough to place a heavy mixer on top.
Sieving: Filter small stones out of the soil source.
Conveyor Belt: Deliver materials from one machine to another - automatically.
Distributor Conveyor: Distribute mixed materials to several Auto Press machines.
auto press machine: this is the main machine as it the machine that make the bricks
through making the highest pressure to get the highest strength and a MOULDS in order
to give the bricks their shapes, In order to reduce the force need to compress we increase
the long of the arm, them the energy consumption decrease.
As shown in (Graph (4)) found that our factor would require electricity more than the
ordinary factors, in order to solve this problem, we decide to use a new system to solve this
problem that called power logic.
- Power logic is the best solution for energy control as it makes the most of our energy by:
Reducing energy-related costs through improved efficiency, lower emissions, reduced
per-unit energy costs and maximized use of your power distribution network.
 The third one is power logic system
Power logic is the best solution for energy control as it makes the most of our energy by:
Reducing energy-related costs through improved efficiency, lower emissions, reduced per-
unit energy costs and maximized use of your power distribution network.
Optimizing equipment utilization to make better use of capital assets by balancing loads
and determine capacity requirements.-Improving the overall quality of power and
reliability of your equipment and processes, as well as increase in safety through remote
monitoring versus risk of arc flesh.
Power Logic technology gives professionals from fiancé to engineering the level of energy
intelligence and control needed to support strategic decisions and establish best energy
practices. It reduces operational costs and meet new emissions standards without
compromising production schedules or product quality. Key points are monitored
throughout the power distribution, building and backup systems: Maximize the use of the
existing energy assets.-Increase energy efficiency and cut emissions.
- Improve safety and avoid the hidden power problems that can shorten equipment life or
cause costly downtime.
 Power Logic ION ® EEM software
There are too many series of power logic we decide to work on “ION ® EEM” series, we
choose it because it helps to view energy in financial terms and gain insight into the
impacts of power quality and reliability. It benchmarks performance to reveal
inefficiencies and risks. Then it tracks the progress of initiatives and verifying. the results
of equipment upgrade or other improvements. Emissions reporting helps to meet
environmental goals. Trend analysis supports strategies to avoid demand or power factor
penalties and reveals unused electrical system capacity. The software also helps optimize
procurement by forecasting needs, comparing rates, identifying billing errors and
validating contract compliance. It also accurately allocates costs to tenants.
 -
Results
“No earning with no erroring”,” Never give up from the first try”
We put some design requirements for the project as the cost, efficiency,
environmental impact and durability .. we made cement with same of
efficiency and using interlocking bricks in building decrease the cost as
we use only about 40% of cement needed in normal bricks building.
Then we started building our prototype to test our solutions, we have
done the prototype for two times.
The test plan outcomes that we have achieved:
• purity of silica was about 97.6%
• we decreased the energy needed to extract silica by about 950 c degree
as we extracted it from (RHA) by burning on 650 c degree instead of
sand that burns on 1600 c degree so that the cost decreased
• we can extract about 250gm of silica from 1kg of rice husk ash
• we used silica in cement industry by ratio from 5 to 10 % cement
usage decreased in building by ratio of 60 % The first test for
interlocking bricks
While calculating the input energy of our prototype, we found that:
• we did not need to use any source of energy, we only depend on the
pressure, which made by rotating the arm of the machine . We also found
that the cost for making our brick the lower than the cost of the clay
brick, these things made our prototype pass this test. The second test for
interlocking bricks (durability) we found it by throwing brick from this
height (200 cm). but when we throw the clay brick it smashed
immediately.
The last test (environmentally impact) The process that we used to make
our brick produce only 56.79 kg/m3 of carbon dioxide, but as for the clay
brick they use heat to dry the brick which contain cement and that’s led
to produce 547.3 kg/m3 of carbon dioxide which so harmful for the
environment. And these results were the reason for making us sure that
our project going to solve industry problem in Egypt.
conclusion
After the great results that have been reached for and the efforts of our group,
eventually, a conclusion has been reached. It has been concluded that for a more
successfully outcomes, a less percentage of cement had to be put in our prototype, in
order to make the brick with a higher strength or durability. It also has been concluded
that the more clay exists in the bricks’ components, the more efficiency and strength it
will be.
Eventually it has been concluded and decided that, the interlocking
bricks is the best conclusion to be applied From all the previous we
can also conclude that
1 – the cost reduced by extracting the pozzolana (silica ), which is one the
components of cement from other cheaper resource from the burning rice husk ash.
2- the eco- friendly of the project by decreasing the amount of co2 from the
manufacturing or cement by utilizing pozzolana (silica) from another source to reduce
the amount of co2.
applications
Rice husk ash will be one of the most efficient materials to extract silica.
As it needs less energy to be used than sand as its burning will reduce 950
c degree than sand burning .
Interlocking bricks will be one of the most efficient bricks used in
building in the near future. And it have many benefits such as it decrease
the cost as we use only about 40% of cement needed in normal bricks
building., this brick had a lot of addition benefits like (fire proof, sound
resistant, bullet proof when we compare interlocking bricks and clay
bricks we found that the interlocking brick is more efficient than the clay
bricks (ordinary one).. the interlocking bricks is better than the clay
bricks as it has higher strength and durability and its production is too
fast as it produces about 6 bricks per minute.
Power logic system will reserve a huge amount of energy as it is a
software system used to give the needed amount of energy only and
prevent any excess amount of energy.
Research sources
"MYIB - Introduction To Bricks". Myib.com.my. N.p., 2017. Web. 13 Feb.
2017.
"Power Monitoring And Control | Schneider Electric". Schneider-
electric.com. N.p., 2017. Web. 13 Apr. 2017.
"Powerlogic System Compatible Devices". Powerlogic.com. N.p., 2017.
Web. 13 Apr. 2017.
(2004).cement manufacturing process. mYcem cement
(2009).pozzolanic characteristics of a natural raw. Iran: Iranian journal of
science & technology .
(2005. pozzolanic materials – evolution of. Orlando : international building
lime symposium.
Understanding cement and its application.(2014 ,October 25). London,
England.
University , a.(2014). Utilizing of crushed clay brick in concrete industry.