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Supplementary cementitious materials origin

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Construction and Building Materials 74 (2015) 176187

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Review

Supplementary cementitious materials origin from agricultural

wastes A review
Evi Aprianti a,, Payam Shagh b, Syamsul Bahri b, Javad Nodeh Farahani b
a
b

Department of Building Surveying, Faculty of Built Environment, University of Malaya, Malaysia

Department of Civil Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, University of Malaya, Malaysia

h i g h l i g h t s
 Potential uses of agricultural wastes as cementitious material were reviewed.
 Ashes from agricultural wastes have high silica content.
 The use of RHA is limited due to the porosity nature of RHA particles.
 POFA has good potential to be used as cementitious material in cement based materials.

a r t i c l e

i n f o

Article history:
Received 25 July 2014
Accepted 8 October 2014

Keywords:
Supplementary cementitious material
Pozzolans
Concrete
Compressive strength
Agricultural waste

a b s t r a c t
Concrete is heavily used as a construction material in modern society. With the growth in urbanization
and industrialization, the demand for concrete is increasing day by-days. Therefore, raw materials and
natural resources are required in large quantities for concrete production worldwide. At the same time,
a considerable quantity of agricultural waste and other types of solid material disposal are posing serious
environmental issues. To minimize and reduce the negative impact of the concrete industry through the
explosive usage of raw materials, the use of agricultural wastes as supplementary cementitious materials,
the source of which are both reliable and suitable for alternative preventive solutions promotes the environmental sustainability of the industry. This paper reviews the possible use of agricultural wastes as a
supplementary cementitious material in the production of concrete. It aims to exhibit the idea of utilizing
these wastes by elaborating upon their engineering, physical and chemical properties. This provides a
summary of the existing knowledge about the successful use of agricultural wastes such as rice husk
ash, palm oil fuel ash, sugar cane bagasse ash, wood waste ash, bamboo leaf ash, and corn cob ash in
the concrete industry.
2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Contents
1.
2.

Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Supplementary cementitious material (SCM) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
2.1.
Agricultural wastes as SCM . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
2.1.1.
Rice husk ash . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
2.1.2.
Palm oil fuel ash (POFA). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
2.1.3.
Bagasse ash (BA) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
2.1.4.
Wood waste ash . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
2.1.5.
Bamboo Leaf ash (BLA). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
2.1.6.
Corn cob ash (CCA) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Corresponding author. Tel.: +60 1114247118; fax: +60 379675713.

E-mail addresses: eviaprianti93@siswa.um.edu.my, eviaprianti93@yahoo.com (E. Aprianti).
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.conbuildmat.2014.10.010
0950-0618/ 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

177
177
178
178
180
183
184
184
185

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3.

Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 185
Acknowledgements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 185
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 185

1. Introduction
Today, concrete has become the most commonly used building
material in the construction industry. The other important characteristics of concrete, besides its strength, are its ability to be easily
moulded into any form, it is an engineered material that can
meet almost any desired specication, and it also adaptable,
incombustible, affordable and easily obtained. The great advantage
of concrete is its excellent mechanical and physical characteristics,
if properly designed and manufactured. Currently, concrete is
extensively used with more than 10 billion tons produced annually
in modern industrial society [1]. It has been estimated that by
2050, the rate of the worlds population will grow substantially
from 1.5 to 9 billion, and, thus, will cause an increase in the
demand for energy, housing, food and clothing as well as for concrete, which is forecast to increase to approximately 18 billion tons
annually by 2050 [2].
Unfortunately, a considerable quantity of concrete is being produced, the effect of which is contrary to its benets. In the last
100 years, the concrete industry has had an enormous effect on
the environmental appearances. In addition, CO2 emissions are
caused during the manufacturing process with a large volume of
raw materials required to produce the billions of tons of concrete
worldwide each year. The cement industry alone is estimated to
be responsible for about 7% of all the CO2 generated worldwide
[3]. It has been found that every ton of Portland cement produced
releases approximately one ton of CO2 into the atmosphere. In
addition, during the production of cement and concrete, issues like
carbon dioxide emissions, along with the use of energy and aggregate consumption in great amounts, the demolition waste of concrete, and ller requirements, contribute to the common
environmental impact that concrete has making it a non-friendly
that is unsuitable for sustainable development.
Several studies have focused on nding alternatives that can be
used as replacement to cement, such as, the disposable and less
valuable wastes from industry and agriculture, whose potential
benets can be realized through recycling, reuse and renewing
programmes. Hence, researchers have been investigating the effectiveness, efciency and availability of waste materials that are pozzolanic in nature as a cement replacement. The required materials
should be a by-product from an-original source that is rich in silicon (Si) and aluminium (Al). The framework for utilizing industrial
waste material for building applications has a successful history,
which includes y ash, slag, and silica fume. Consequently, land
lled waste materials that are normally disposed of and land lled
are now deemed to be valuable for enhancing the desired properties of concrete.
Previous studies showed that some agro-waste materials could
be used as a cement replacement in cement based materials. The
utilization of agricultural waste can provide the break-through
needed to make the industry more environmentally friendly and
sustainable. The purpose of this paper is to clearly describe and
briey introduce waste materials from agricultural commodities
that have been well managed and successfully used as supplementary cementitious materials (SCM) for the manufacture of concrete.
The relationships among concrete made using these types of waste
materials, environmentally friendly concrete, and green building
rating systems are also discussed. Mutual recognition of these
materials, and their usage in concrete by both civil engineers and

agricultural engineers, would pave the way for other potential uses
of solid waste materials in the construction industry, as well as certain other industries. It will also lead to a more environmentally
sustainable concrete industry.
2. Supplementary cementitious material (SCM)
A substantial quantity of waste materials are produced globally
as by-products from different sectors, such as industrial, agricultural, and wastes from rural and urban society. These waste materials, if not deposited safely, it may be hazardous. The type and
amount of sewage produced increases with the growth in population. These wastes remain in the environment for a longer duration
since they are unused. The waste disposal crisis has arisen due to
the formation of decomposed waste materials. The solution to this
crisis lies in the recycling of wastes into useful products. Research
into the innovative uses of waste materials is continuously advancing. Waste and by-product materials, such as y ash, silica fume,
ground granulated blast slag, rice husk ash, and palm oil fuel ash
have been successfully used in concrete for decades [48]. The successful usage as a partial or whole replacement of Portland cement,
contributes to the resolution of the landll problem and reduction
in the cost of building materials, provides a satisfactory solution to
the environmental issues and problems associated with waste
management, saves energy, and helps to protect the environment
from pollution. Agricultural wastes, such as rice husk ash, wheat
straw ash, and sugarcane bagasse ash, hazel nutshell ash which
constitute pozzolanic materials can be used as a replacement for
cement.
Today, supplementary cementing materials are widely used as
pozzolanic materials (create extra strength by pozzolanic reaction)
in high-strength concrete, reduce permeability and improve the
durability of the concrete. Many types of pozzolans are used globally, and are commonly used as an addition or replacement for
Portland cement in concrete. It is well known that pozzolanic concrete contributes to the compressive strength in two ways: as the
ller effect and the pozzolanic reaction. Thus, the pozzolanic material will reduce the demand or usage of cement at that time. A pozzolan comprises siliceous materials, and when combined with
calcium hydroxide, exhibits cementitious properties depending
on the constituents of the pozzolan. On the other hand, the high
early strength concrete can be produced by the highly reactive silica in pozzolans. The basis of the pozzolanic reaction is a simple
acid-based reaction between calcium hydroxide, also known as
Portlandite (Ca(OH)2) and silicic acid (Si(OH)4). This reaction is represented as follows:
2

CaOH2 SiOH4 ! Ca2 H2 SiO4 2H2 O

! CaH2 SiO4  2H2 O
And is the same as the abbreviated notation below:

~
CH SH ! CSHCSH
As the density of CSH is lower than that of Portlandite and pure
silica, a consequence of this reaction is a swelling of the reaction
products. This reaction, which is also known as alkalisilica reaction may occur over time in concrete between the alkaline cement
pore water and poorly-crystalline silica aggregates.

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E. Aprianti et al. / Construction and Building Materials 74 (2015) 176187

Basically, concrete is a combination of cement, water, ne and

coarse aggregate. As consequence of the greenhouse gas emissions
(GHG), most concrete mixtures utilize supplementary cementitious materials (SCMs) either in blended cements or added separately in the mixer. The utilization of SCMs, such as rice husk
ash, which is a by-product from agriculture, represents a viable
solution to the partial cement substitution. Which is divided into
natural and articial materials. The usage of SCMs without the
additional process causes a signicant decrease in CO2 emissions
per ton in the atmosphere. These materials are also referred to as
mineral admixtures or pozzolans, and when used in concrete and
combined with Portland cement form cementitious particles, however by themselves, they do not possess any cementitious compounds. They should meet the requirements of the established
standards.
The structural advantage of SCMs is that they enable the producer to modify the mixture and calculate the proper design of
the desired application. In addition, it can be used to improve the
performance of concrete, either in fresh or hardened mixtures. In
economic terms, using alternative waste materials can reduce the
cost of construction while providing comparable performance. This
cost includes the source and transportation of the alternative
material, controlled combustion process, and savings through
diversion, such as disposal management. Subsequently, the environmental benets will decrease the sizeable needs and demands
of Portland cement per unit volume of concrete as well as the
impact on the enormous deation range of GHG emissions.
2.1. Agricultural wastes as SCM
Nowadays, global environmental warming is considered to be
the most important worldwide issue. Solid waste materials are
found everywhere, such as in the urban and rural society, industry
and agriculture. As agricultural wastes affect of the environment,
the use of these waste materials in construction will realize the
many benets previously mentioned. Research has determined
that concrete that produced using agricultural wastes presents
improved thermal properties [13,27,3649], which can result in
signicant points being gained in the atmosphere and energy category of Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED)
rating system. Moreover, due to the high cost constraints and limited availability of the main material in concrete, particularly in
developing countries, agricultural wastes used as SCMs in concrete
production can contribute to the environmental friendliness and
economic effectiveness of structures worldwide.
2.1.1. Rice husk ash
Rice husk is a natural sheath that forms around rice grains during their growth. It is widely available in rice-producing countries,
and considered to be an agricultural solid waste material. Rice husk
has no commercial value when removed during the rening process. The rice milling industry is one of the most important sectors
in some countries, such as China, India, Indonesia, Malaysia and
Bangladesh, and worldwide by the end of 2013, the rice husk harvest produced approximately 742 million metric tons of rice paddies annually [9]. Of this, more than 20% comprised the husk.
India produces around 160 million tons of rice husk (widely available waste) of which, during the milling process, about 78% of the
weight is rice, broken rice and bran, while the rest, 22% of the
weight of the paddy, is the husk [10]. Malaysia alone produces
approximately 3 million tons of rice paddies each year [9]. Table 1
shows the top 10 highest countries that produced rice paddy in
2013 [9]. Asia is still expected to sustain growth in the world rice
production in 2013.
The advantage of rice is that it produces a high volume of rice
husk, which is a low-density residue of the process [11]. At present,

the rice-producing countries are hindered by the landll problem

of the rice husk, which they are attempting to utilize to benet
the economy. When dumped, this waste covers a large area and
can self-incinerate, thereby spreading its ash over a wide area
and causing signicant environmental problems. Unless used, this
large quantity of rice husk goes to waste and becomes a major
challenge to the environment by destroying the land and the areas
surrounding its dumping ground. A huge amount of RHA is produced globally and has been estimated to be growing at more than
7.5 million tons, or, approximately 1.1% each year [9].
2.1.1.1. Properties of rice husk ash (RHA). Rice husk ash (RHA) is a
carbon neutral green product gained from raw rice husk that is
changed to ash using the combustion process. The colour of the rice
husk ash (RHA) ranges from white grey to black, depending on the
source of the raw material, method of incineration, time and burning temperature. Many ways of disposal have been considered
including the commercial method of RHA. Rice husk is burnt in a
furnace/incinerator with a controlled laboratory atmosphere of
600800 C. After the ring process, the produced ash is cooled,
either rapidly or slowly. The rapid cooling method is performed
by uniformly distributing the ash in trays at a laboratory ambient
temperature of 21 1 C after reaching the required temperature
of 800 C. The slow cooling method involves, leaving the ash in
the incinerator. It can be used in large amounts to make special
supplementary concrete mixes. This RHA, in turn, contains around
8590% of amorphous silica [1315].
Zain et al. [15] reported a new method for producing RHA. The
rice husk, as displayed in Fig. 1(a), is the raw form after the milling
process, which is red in a gas furnace at a rate of 10 C per minute
up to 700 C, and maintained at this temperature for 6 h. Thereafter, it is left to cool at room temperature, as shown in Fig. 1(b).
There are various chemical compositions of rice husk ash due to
the type of paddy, differences in the type of land, harvest year,
combustion temperature, cooling method and geographical
conditions.
RHA is a very ne material. The average particle size of RHA
ranges from 5 to 10 lm [14]. Table 2 shows the physical and chemical properties of RHA, Portland cement and some cementitious
materials. RHA should meet the requirements of the chemical composition of pozzolan to be used in cement and concrete, as stated in
ASTM C618. The amount of silicon dioxide (SiO2), iron oxide
(Fe2O3) and aluminium oxide (A12O3) in the ash should not be less
than 70%, and the loss of ignition (LOI) must be up to 12%, as mentioned in the ASTM requirements. In addition, Chauhan and Kumar
[75] clearly explained the importance physical properties of material used that control the ow of micro-system in concrete such as
surface area, neness, incineration system and porosity.
Fig. 3 shows the SEM morphology of the RHA powder. As shown
in this gure, RHA grains are in different shapes and have porosity
on the surface. Thus causing the mixing water to be absorbed, and
reducing the slump value and workability. In addition, Fig. 2 shows
that the cellular shape of rice husk ash gets broken due to the
longer period of the grinding process. After the grinding process
within 15, 60 and 120 min, the average diameter of the rice husk
ash particle was 49.0 lm (Fig. 2a), 41.0 lm (Fig. 2b) and 16.6 lm
(Fig. 2c), respectively. As described in Fig. 2a, the cellular shape
of RHA could be clearly seen. The transformation occurs for
120 min (Fig. 2c), the cellular particles become smaller and disappear. This observation determines that the RHA sample is composed of irregular shaped particles with micro-pores, which
could signicantly affect the properties of the nal product.
Researchers [8,1316] agree that ner pozzolanic ash is better.
The neness of the RHA is important because it inuences the rate
of reaction and gains in concrete strength. The neness also inuences the water-cement ratio, workability, shrinkage and creep of

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E. Aprianti et al. / Construction and Building Materials 74 (2015) 176187

Table 1
Worldwide production of rice paddy, potential husk, and ash production in 2013 [9].
Country

Rice paddy production in

2013 (Mt)

Husk produced
(20% of total) (Mt)

Potential ash production

(18% of husk) (Mt)

Rice paddy production in

2002 (Mt)

Incremental (%) from

2002 to 2013

China
India
Indonesia
Bangladesh
Vietnam
West Africa
Brazil
Pakistan
Egypt
Malaysia
Europe
Australia
Others

200.0
160.0
90.0
45.0
40.0
13.4
12.3
9.0
6.1
3.0
2.9
1.2
168.5

40.0
32.0
18.0
9.0
6.0
2.7
2.5
1.8
0.3
0.6
0.6
0.3
33.7

7.2
5.8
3.2
1.6
1.1
0.1
0.4
0.3
0.1
0.1
0.1
0.1
6.1

177.6
123.0
48.7
39.0
31.3
10.7
10.5
5.8
5.7
2.7
1.7
0.9
121.9

11.2
23.1
43.2
13.3
21.8
20.1
14.6
35.5
6.6
10.0
41.4
25.0
27.7

Total (world)
Area (ha) in 2013

741.4
164 million hectares

579.5

21.9

concrete. Mahmud et al. [17] reported that ner RHA particles

yield a larger surface area and increase the strength of the concrete. The very ne and chemically reactive substance would ll
the empty columns in the concrete in an optimum manner. Fig. 4
shows photos of the rice husk in raw conditions (4a) that was
obtained from a rice mill located in Kuala Selangor, Malaysia. The
RHA conditions before and after the grinding process are displayed
in Fig. 4b and c, respectively.
2.1.1.2. Rice husk ash as pozzolan. Papadakis and Tsimas [19] conrmed that the sustainable development of the cement and construction industries could be achieved by maximizing of the use
of the cementitious and pozzolanic by-products. According to
ASTM C 595 [17], a pozzolan is dened as a siliceous or siliceous
and aluminous material, which in itself possesses little or no
cementitious value but will, in nely divided form and in the presence of moisture, chemically react with calcium hydroxide to form
compounds possessing cementitious properties (pozzolanic activity). It can be explained that when pozzolanic materials are combined with Portland cement, they will react to form cementitious
properties, whereas by themselves, they do not possess any
cementitious properties. Therefore, a cementitious material can
exhibit a self-cementitious (hydraulic) activity and contains quantities of CaO while a pozzolanic materials requires Ca(OH)2to form
strength. It is generally accepted that the CaO content of the last
material is sufcient to react with all the pozzolanic compounds
and show pozzolanic activity (pozzolanic and cementitious materials). Consequently, all these materials are often used in a mixture
with Portland cement which is essential for their activation,
Ca(OH)2 from its hydration.
The possible chemical reaction between silica and Ca(OH)2 in
the presence of water is as follows:

n  SiO2 n  CaOH2 H2 O ! n  Cax  SiOx  n  H2 O

It was found that the secondary CSH gel was obtained from a
reaction between the silica (SiO2) and Ca(OH)2, as stipulated in the
chemical equilibrium above (Eq. (1)). According to Sugita et al.
[21], the formation of CSH gel in RHA-concrete was possibly
caused by the reaction between the SiO2 present in the RHA and
the Ca(OH)2 in the hydrating cement. They proposed that the C
SH gel was chemical structure of the Ca1.5SiO3.5xH2O.
In the combustion process, the matrix of celluloselignin from
the raw rice husk burns up and remains only as a porous silica skeleton. The RHA is considered as a good super-pozzolan material in
the production of concrete due to its high silica content. Thus,

the RHA contains a large volume of silica [12,19], and constitutes

a highly reactive pozzolanic material. The optimized and highly
reactive rice husk ash is found when it is incinerated under a controlled temperature. The optimized RHA properties could be used
as a pozzolanic material in concrete. The duration and temperature
of the furnace are important parameters that inuence the reactivity of the RHA pozzolans. The silica in the rice husk initially exists
in an amorphous form. However, it may become crystalline when
the rice husk is burnt at high temperature. In addition, the silica
in the RHA will not remain porous and amorphous when combusted for a long period at a low temperature (<500 C), or at a very
high temperature for a short time (only a few minutes). In other
words, the produced rice husk ash contains up to 90% amorphous
silica, which satises the other requirements of the ASTM standard
C61803.
2.1.1.3. Rice husk ash as SCM in concrete. Supplementary cementitious materials (SCMs), often referred to as mineral admixtures,
should satisfy the requirements of the established standards for
use in concrete. The utilization of any SCMs will increase its output,
such as the hydraulic factors, permeability, strength, unit weight,
durability and volumetric constancy over a long period. The RHA
is the product of a supplementary cementitious material (SCM)
from the agro-industry. As early as 1942, Pitt [23], explored the
use of RHA as a supplementary cementitious material for producing high strength concrete [20]. Most studies have indicated that
the standard compressive strength of concrete combined with or
without cementitious materials (SCMs), is within the range for
conventional concrete (1545 Mpa) and has a density of about
2400 kg/m3 [8,2123]. However, recent studies have shown the
possibility of producing high strength concrete up to 55 MPa and
72 MPa for 7 and 28 days curing [24], respectively. Promoting the
compressive strength of concrete and the ability to produce high
strength concrete with SCMs, such as RHA, is very important
because the compressive strength of concrete plays a fundamental
role in the design and construction of concrete structures [25]. The
methods and procedures for producing high strength RHA concrete
have been examined in various published papers [8,1214]. Table 3
shows some selected mix proportions of concrete containing RHA
in several combinations of designs. In general, the RHA concrete
had higher compressive strengths at various ages and up to 90 days
when compared with the normal concrete without RHA and or
SCMs. Improvements in the mechanical and durability properties
of the concretes containing RHA can be explained by the chemical
and physical effects of RHA. RHA reduces the number of the large

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E. Aprianti et al. / Construction and Building Materials 74 (2015) 176187

Fig. 1. (a) Raw rice husk and (b) rice husk ash (RHA) [15].

Table 2
The chemical and physical properties of Portland cement and some cementitious materials [5,8,11,18,27,34,35,69,74,75].
Chemical composition (%)

Ordinary Portland cement I

Ordinary Portland cement II

Rice husk ash (RHA)

Palm oil fuel ash (POFA)

Corn cob ash (CCA)

SiO2
Al2O3
Fe2O3
CaO
MgO
SO3
Na2O
K2O
LOI

20.422.0
3.75.3
2.34.2
61.565.4
1.24.8
2.23.0
0.10.2
0.31.1
0.42.3

21.9
4.9
3.3
62.3
2.3
2.1
1.2
0.3
1.1

80.795.9
0.40.4
0.22.9
1.11.5
0.30.9
0.71.2
0.91.2
0.82.1
2.86.6

59.666.9
2.56.4
1.95.7
4.96.4
3.04.5
0.31.3
0.20.8
5.07.5
6.610.0

65.467.3
6.09.1
3.85.6
10.312.9
1.82.3
1.01.1
0.40.5
4.25.7
0.91.5

Physical properties
Median particle size (lm)
Specic gravity
Blaine neness (m2/kg)

3.03.3
336.5399.0

2.903.2
305.0

5.010.0
2.02.2
350.0376.8

10.5
1.92.4
493.0

29.045.0
2.53.6
270.0385.0

pores and increases the probability of transforming the continuous

pores into discontinuous ones. Hence, all these mechanisms make
the microstructure of the paste more homogeneous and dense. The
performance of concrete with RHA as a supplementary cementitious material (partially cement replacement) is outstanding considering its resistance to water [8,10] and chloride ion
penetration [24], which, in many cases, constitute the most important characteristic for durability and the prevention of corrosion.
The highlighted properties that are the result of air permeability
and chloride ion penetration will show different behaviors depending on the w/c ratio used in the mixtures. Moreover, the incorporation of RHA in concrete materials resolves the current problems
associated with the disposal of RHA.

2.1.2. Palm oil fuel ash (POFA)

2.1.2.1. Origins of palm oil fuel ash (POFA). The oil palm is a tropical
palm tree, which is easily cultivated in tropical countries, such as
Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, Africa, and Latin America, 90% of
the palm oil production is generated by three of the ASEAN countries. Palm oil can be grown in many parts of the tropical world, but
is mainly productive within the equator line, which include Indonesia, Malaysia, and several parts of Thailand. The high productivity of oil palm is concentrated in the tropical zone; located 10 to
the North or South of the equator. Fig. 5 shows the worldwide production of palm oil in 2009 [10]. Malaysia produces 7 million tons
of crude palm oil each year [26], and Thailand produces 100,000

tons of palm oil fuel ash (POFA)annually [31], which is likely to

increase due to the development of palm tree plantations.
Palm trees are generally used in commercial agriculture. They
do not produce branches and are spread by sowing the seeds. It
comprises an oily, eshy outer layer, with a single seed (kernel),
which is rich in oil [29]. Tangchirapat et al. [30] dened POFA as
an agro-waste ash from which palm oil residue, such as palm bre
and shells, is burnt at temperatures of 8001000 C to produce
steam for the generation of electricity in biomass thermal power
plants. The typical oil palm residue constitutes15% shell and 85%
bre. To produce energy, the empty fruit bunches are burned in a
boiler. Generally, it also produces about 5% ash by weight of solid
waste. The solid waste and ash material produced are rarely used,
thus, posing a serious ecological problem through the concomitant
pollution of the environment. Thus, it should present a feasible
solution to both the problem of land-lling as well as the high cost
of building materials and pollution of the planet. Basically, waste
disposal is always considered as a negative value due to the
costly practices. In addition, the manageable maximized use of
POFA will produce positive value products as well reduce the
environmental problems. Compared to other types of palm-oil
by-product, both the 20th and 21st century, POFA has represented
an environmental disruption pollutant that ends-up in the atmosphere without being utilized.
2.1.2.2. Manufacture and properties of POFA. Palm oil fuel ash
(POFA) is a waste product obtained in the form of ash through

E. Aprianti et al. / Construction and Building Materials 74 (2015) 176187

181

conducted by Abdul Awal and Shehu [36] in 2013, in which the

ash was obtained from the foot of the ue tower in Johor, the
southern-state of Malaysia. Thereafter, it was sieved through a
150 lm lter and ground in a modied Los Angeles abrasion test
machine with 10 stainless steel bars (12 mm diameter and
800 mm long) instead of steel balls inside in order to increase
the neness. The ash produced sometimes varied in colour, from
whitish grey to a darker shade, based on its carbon content
[30,31,33,34,7173]. At the end, it was noted that the raw materials for POFA could come from the fuel industry, self-combustion in
a furnace or other milling industries. All the ne ash was trapped
while escaping from the burning chambers of the boiler, then
sieved through a 150300 lm lter to remove the bigger sized
ash particles as well as any materials that had not been considered.
In other words, the physical characteristics of POFA are very much
inuenced by the operating system in the palm oil factory. The ash
was ground in a Los Angeles abrasion test machine that contains
within it 1020 stainless steel bars instead of steel balls.
In bulk, POFA is greyish in colour and becomes darker as the
proportions of unburned carbon increase. The properties of POFA
are described in Table 22. The main oxide of POFA is silicon dioxide
or SiO2. It has been explained that POFA is moderately rich in silica
content (59.666.9%) compared to that of OPC. In addition, the
amount of iron content (1.95.7%) is similar to that of CaO, which
is very low, i.e. about 5%. However, it is much ner than OPC and its
specic gravity is around 1.92.4 as mentioned in Table 2. Furthermore, the combustion process inuences the amount of carbon
present in the ash. For instance, Loss on Ignition (LOI) detected
8.25%, which is somewhat higher than the maximum value of
6.0% stipulated in ASTM C618 [37]. The difference in the amount
of the chemical components in POFA is due to the material source,
and burning process and efciency (time and temperature).

Fig. 2. SEM of RHA particles ground for (a) 15 min grinding process, (b) 60 min
grinding process, (c) 120 min grinding process and (d) after sieving analysis [15].

the burning of solid wastes, such as palm oil husk or bre and palm
kernel shell, as fuel in a palm oil mill boiler. Fig. 6a shows the residue from the palm oil industry, and, after analysis using a 300 lm
sieve, becomes ash, as presented in Fig. 6b. The manufactured process of POFA varies from the initial preparation to the incineration
process. Noorvand et al. [73] examined the initial preparation of
POFA after the combustion process by dried samples in an oven
at 105 5 C for 24 h. Tangchirapat et al. [30] prepared the ash
using the combustion process at a temperature of about 700
1000 C and sieve No. 16 (1.18 mm opening) to remove foreign
materials during the incineration process. They found three different types of POFA based on specic gravity original size (OP), medium size (MP) and small size (SP).The specic gravity was 1.89,
2.36, and 2.43 for OP, MP, and SP, respectively. It can be concluded
that the grinding process not only improves the neness of POFA,
but also the specic gravity. Another preparation method was

2.1.2.3. Pozzolanic reaction of POFA. The formation of calciumsilicatehydrate or CSH is gained from the reaction between SiO2
and Al2O3 in a pozzolanic material with Ca(OH)2 in a cement paste.
The Ca(OH)2 is used as an indicator in pozzolanic reaction. Chindaprasirt et al. [72] reported that the increasing portion of the pozzolanic replacement and neness will cause a reduction in the
Ca(OH)2 content, while improving the sulphate resistance in concrete. They found that high neness POFA has a faster pozzolanic
reaction than coarse POFA (without sieving). Hence, POFA can
improve the compressive strength of concrete due to its high neness which is denser and more homogeneous. In addition, the use
of POFA as a binder satises the chemical requirement in ASTM
C618 as a pozzolanic material by having a loss on ignition (LOI)
of less than 10%. Hence, it could be benecial in the manufacture
of concrete. Many researchers [26,3032] have found solutions
for making use of this by-product to be a valuable waste. In
2011, Jaturapitakkul et al. [38] investigated the compressive
strength of mortar due to the pozzolanic reaction of POFA for
1040% of cement replacement by weight of binder. The compressive strength of mortar due to the pozzolanic reaction of POFA varied from 0.1 MPa to 4.5 MPa at 7 days and 2.5 MPa to 22.5 MPa at
90 days. This result conrms that the pozzolanic reaction of POFA
is small at an early age and increases in signicance at a later
age. It also shows that the pozzolanic reaction of POFA increases
with arising particle neness, cement replacement rate and age
of concrete. Furthermore, POFA (median particle size of approximately 10 lm) has been utilized in the production of HPC, in which
the highest compressive strength was found to be in the range 60
86 MPa, which was obtained at the POFA replacement level 20% at
28 days with a total binder 550560 kg/m3 [30,3334]. According
to Jaturapitakkul et al. [31], the increased neness of POFA will
reduce the expansion and loss in the compressive strength of concrete. They suggested that POFA could be used as a pozzolanic

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E. Aprianti et al. / Construction and Building Materials 74 (2015) 176187

Fig. 3. SEM morphology of RHA particles in different scales.

Fig. 4. (a) Raw rice husk from Selangor, Malaysia (b) RHA before grinding and (c) RHA after grinding [20].

Table 3
Selected mix proportion of RHA concrete according to the compressive strength [8,13,16,26,27,70,71].
Mix No.

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10

Unit = kg/m3.

Cement

376
393
481
420
550
1067
889
300
400
277

RHA (%)

5
10
10
15
15
15
15
20
25
30

Super plasticizer (SP)%

1.0
0.5
0.9
1.0
1.1
1.0
1.1
0.9
0.9
1.1

Water

210
165
162
189
162
628
628
250
250
210

Aggregate
Fine

Coarse

844
723
690
815
710
1,997
2,176
94
150
844

951
1018
1050
995
180
4283
4268
1456
1400
951

28-Day cube compressive strength (Mpa)

Ref.

35.4
40.0
47.8
46.9
53.0
50.0
42.8
33.5
42.9
26.6

Madandoust et al. [71]

Sensale et al. [14]
Hesami et al. [8]
Ramezanianpour et al. [27]
Mahmud et al. [17]
Nagrale et al. [28]
Nagrale et al. [28]
Rahman et al. [70]
Rahman et al. [70]
Madandoust et al. [71]

E. Aprianti et al. / Construction and Building Materials 74 (2015) 176187

183

POFA tends to reduce the water demand of the high-strength concrete [42]. Overall, the results described and presented show that
POFA possesses great potential pozzolanic cementing materials
with possibly superior engineering properties in proper mixing
and curing systems. It could also lead to the greater utilization of
waste material from the agricultural side. Subsequently, by minimizing the volume of waste, which is disposed of landll, will protect the environment as well as reduce the emission of GAGs
(greenhouse gases CO2). Furthermore, the use of POFA contributes
to a sustainable industry and may contribute to a reduction in the
construction-cost.

Fig. 5. World palm oil production in 2009 [10].

material as well as to improve the sulphate resistance of concrete.

Meanwhile, Sata et al. [33] studied the ability of POFA as a pozzolan to improve the strength of concrete. All researchers attributed
the improvements in the behavior of the POFA concrete to the pozzolanic reaction through which the hydration products were
released.
The development of the compressive strength for selected mixtures is presented in Table 4. For concrete mixtures containing various proportions of POFA, the result shows that the compressive
strength is more than 55 MPa at 28 days. Concrete samples with
20% and 30% POFA show values of 59 and 61 MPa, respectively.
After 28-days, the compressive strengths of all concretes containing POFA were higher than the normal concrete, as mentioned in
Table 4. The use of 20% POFA resulted in a compressive strength
of as high as 70 MPa at 90-days. Two different POFA (CAPOFA
and ALPOFA) were collected from diverse palm oil industries. The
different mixtures shown in sample G(I) indicate that using additional bre (steel) as a binder aggregate to produce a signicant
compressive strength of 175 MPa at 28-days compared with no
bre. Meanwhile, at the same POFA proportions of 10%, 20%, and
30%, but combined with 10% SF, it produced an extraordinary
strength of up to 93 MPa. Furthermore, POFA can be used as a
cement replacement up to 30% in producing high-strength concrete, and the compressive strength obtained is higher than concrete made from Portland cement. The inclusion of the ultrane

2.1.3. Bagasse ash (BA)

Fig. 7 is the ow chart describing the production process from
sugar cane to raw sugar and the resulting by-product materials
as well as referring to the sugar extraction process. The by-products generated from the cogeneration and combustion process at
certain temperatures of sugar cane bagasse, which is called bagasse
ash (BA). Huge quantities of bagasse ash are being produced annually in developing countries, such as India, Thailand, Brazil, Pakistan, Columbia, the Philippines, Indonesia and Malaysia [4850],
and are going to be destroyed and disposed of into the environment. It has been concluded that this mineral is a promising pozzolanic material and can be successfully used as a supplementary
material in Portland cement in either the mortar or the concrete.
For instance, Cordeiro et.al [51] reported that by wt% of BA significantly decreased the maximum adiabatic temperature rise of conventional concrete. In addition, the sugar cane bagasse ash
produced with air calcinations at 600 C and a rate of heating of
10 C/min presents amorphous silica, high surface area and low
carbon content [52]. Similarly, a concrete mixture using BA would
not only reduce CO2 emissions worldwide but also increase the
market value of waste materials [4850,53]. The chemical and
physical properties of bagasse ash (BA) are the main factors affecting the presence of pozzolan minerals. Table 5 explains the properties of BA from previous studies. The LOI of bagasse ash is more
than 10% based on the co-generation process and carbon content
within it. However, Chusilp et al. [57] determined that a high LOI
of bagasse ash had no prejudicial effect on the properties of the
binder, nonetheless, if the LOI is less than 10%, it will provide an
excellent pozzolanic material.
Few studies have been conducted on the use of bagasse ash to
produce a great result in the physical and mechanical properties
of concrete. In 2007, Ganesan et al. [56] used BA proportion in 5%
to 30 wt% OPC replacement in dry conditions. In their study, the
mill red BA burnt under controlled conditions at 650 C for 1 h.
The control mix (1:3:3 cement:water:aggregate) was prepared

Fig. 6. (a) Palm oil residue and (b) palm oil fuel ash [33].

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E. Aprianti et al. / Construction and Building Materials 74 (2015) 176187

Table 4
The selected mix proportion of high strength concrete [30,34,36,4143].
No

Mix proportion (kg/m3)

Cement

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15

495.0
440.0
385.0
400.0
400.0
540.4
214.0
171.0
128.0
504.0
448.0
392.0
270.0
240.0
210.0

POFA
kg/m3

55.0
110.0
165.0
100.0
100.0
145.3
213.0
256.0
299.0
56.0
112.0
168.0
30.0
60.0
90.0

10
20
30
20
20
25
50
60
70
10
20
30
10
20
30

Sand

Coarse aggregate

Water

SP (l)

753
745
738
711
711
1057
787
787
787
757
749
742
804
801
799

959
950
940
1067
1067
1340
961
961
961
971
962
952
1024
1021
1018

176
176
176
145
145
168
205
205
205
153
151
148
216
210
219

6.8
8.6
11.6
11.5
11.5
50.4
8.5
11.8
16.9

with a water binder ratio of 0.53 for 100 mm  100 mm  100 mm

cube specimens. The compressive strength optimum was obtained
from 20 wt% OPC replacement for 28 days and 90 days. They demonstrated that the reasons for the early strength development of the
concrete containing bagasse ash are because of the neness of the
particles, as well as the degree of BA reactivity and silica content.
The splitting tensile strength values after 28 days of curing for concretes containing BA up to 20% increased to 4.81 MPa and at 2530%
of BA, the values decreased to 3 MPa. Rukzon and Chindaprasirt [50]
reported that the ne bagasse ash indicated that the concrete containing BA up to 30% exhibited a compressive strength result of
68.6 MPa at 28 days. They concluded that the BA particle is ner
than OPC, therefore, it has an increase in the water uptake, and, of
course a larger surface area to react as well as to enhance the initial
and nal setting time. The hardening process accelerated due to its
high silica and alumina content.
2.1.4. Wood waste ash
Nowadays, more than 70% of the wood waste is disposed of into
the environment in various forms [59]. The combustion process of
several wood products, such as chips and bark, produces a residue
called wood waste ash (WWA) or wood ash (WA). In general, WA
applications are limited to certain maintained levels for the
intended crop growth. However, the nal process of WA should
be properly controlled due to the neness of the particles and easiness of air pollution that will cause respiratory problems to people
who live near the pollutant site. Research [58,60,61] has been conducted to study the production of greener concrete material

SUGAR CANE

BAGASSE

Slump (mm)

0.32
0.32
0.32
0.28
0.28
0.23
0.29
0.29
0.29
0.28
0.28
0.28
0.72
0.70
0.73

250
240
250

169
115
90
80
200
185
185
80
60
75

Compressive strength (MPa)

28 days

90 days

60
61
59
37
49
175
41
36
28
89
94
87
39
32
28

68
70
66
52
53
182

91
93
91
40
39
34

Ref.

[30]

[41]
[42]
[36]

[34]

[43]

incorporated with WWA as a replacement of cement as well as

for sustainability. Ramos et al. [60] investigated the compressive
and exural strengths of the paste mix with 0%, 10%, and 40%
cement replacement with WWA and a W/C ratio of 0.4 at 7, 28,
90 and 180 days. They found the optimum compressive and exural strengths obtained for 10 wt% of WWA. For instance,
42 MPa, 52 MPa, and 61 MPa are the compressive strength for 7,
28 and 90 days, respectively. In accordance with the carbonation
process, cement mixtures using WWA shown a carbonation depth
greater than the mixture for Portland cement. WWA can be a
promising pozzolanic material for cement replacement and while
contributing to the sustainability of eco-constructions.
2.1.5. Bamboo Leaf ash (BLA)
In recent years, research has focused on the utilization of agricultural waste as a pozzolan in the manufacture of concrete. In fact,
the addition of ash from the agricultural waste combustion process
to concrete exhibits better properties and is eco-friendly. The bamboo leaf is one of the solid wastes derived from agriculture. Bamboo is the highest yielding natural resource and has the fastest
growth and can be used as bre and other signicant purposes
for construction materials. Fig. 8b shows the ash from the bamboo
leaf after the calcination process at 600 C for 2 h in an electric furnace. The appearance of a bamboo leaf is presented in Fig. 8a.
This waste material is relatively new in the construction industry and only a few studies have been conducted on the use of the
bamboo leaf ash in a concrete mixture. Dwivedi et al. [63] and
Singh et al. [64] investigated the hydration process of the bamboo

Table 5
The chemical and physical properties of bagasse ash (BA) [49,5256].

SUGAR
INDUSTRY

MILLING PROCESS

W/c

RAW SUGAR

COGENERATION/
COMBUSTION
PROCESS

BAGASSE ASH

Fig. 7. The production process of by-product from sugar industry.

Chemical composition (% by mass)

SiO2
Al2O3
Fe2O3
MgO
CaO
Na2O
K2O
SO3

60.065.3
4.79.1
3.15.5
1.12.9
4.010.5
0.30.9
1.42.0
0.10.2

Physical properties
Particle size distribution, (lm)
Specic gravity
Specic surface area (cm2/g)
Loss on ignition (% by mass)

66.9107.9
1.92.4
274.0943.0
15.319.6

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E. Aprianti et al. / Construction and Building Materials 74 (2015) 176187

Fig. 8. (a) Appearance of bamboo leaf and (b) bamboo leaf ash (BLA) [62].

Table 6
Chemical composition of the bamboo leaf ash [62].
SiO2

Al2O3

Fe2O3

MgO

CaO

Na2O

K2O

SO3

P2O5

MnO

ZnO

LOI

0.99

5.06

0.08

1.33

1.07

0.56

0.20

0.07

8.04

Chemical composition (oxides (%))

80.4

1.22

0.71

leaf ash as a binder. They found that the optimum proportion is

20wt% of BLA, which is comparable to the ordinary Portland
cement. The chemical composition of BLA was studied for the rst
time in 2011 by Cocina et al. [62] as described in Table 6.
2.1.6. Corn cob ash (CCA)
Corn cob ash (CCA) is a ne waste derived from the combustion
of maize and corn. By the year 2000, the world production was
about 589 million tons of maize from about 139 million ha [65].
In Africa, South Africa had the highest production with 8.04 million
tons in 2001, while Nigeria was the second largest producer with
4.62 million tons [65]. Previous studies [6769] determined that
the corn cob ash has an SiO2 content of more than 65% and an oxides combination of Al2O3 and SiO2 in range of 7075%. This shows
that the ash from corn cob can be used as a supplementary cementitious material in concrete. The chemical and physical properties
of CCA are described in Table 2. Adesanya and Raheem [69] determined the chemical composition of corn cob ash (CCA)by inter
grinding the ash with the Portland cement clinker at 0%, 2%, 4%,
6%, 8%, 10%, 15%, 20%, and 25% replacement during the manufacturing process. The control reference specimen was served by the
0% replacement. The results showed that the SiO2 content of the
blended cement increased from 21.53% to 23.69% for 2% to 25%
CCA replacement. A similar trend was observed for the increase
in the alumina and ferric oxide. Meanwhile, the calcium oxide content decreased 2.03% from 2% CCA replacement to 25% CCA
replacement. The addition of CCA as a pozzolanic material in
blended cement shows a higher setting time than the control concrete. Hence, they are most applicable when a low rate of heat
development in mass concrete (low heat cement) is required. Furthermore, Adesanya and Raheem [66,68] also conducted several
experiments such as a study of the permeability and acid attack
of CCA in blended cement, evaluation of CCA properties in mortar,
as well as the workability and compressive strength of concrete
incorporating CCA. The specimen preparation was performed using
100 mm  100 mm  100 mm cube steel moulds. The range of
water cement ratio was 0.50.7 used. The proportions of mixture
were 1:1:3, 1:2:4 and 1:3:6(cement:water:aggregate). The compressive strength of CCA concrete was lower than the plain concrete at the early age. However it improved signicantly at the
later age. This report showed that the optimum portion of CCA
was 8%.

3. Conclusion
Recent interest focused on sustainable development and the
recognition of eco-concrete with the population growth around
the world. Researchers are becoming increasingly concerned about
concept of a green economy, which is important to the environment and society. Since Portland cement, the main principal binder
used in concrete, is the product of an industry that is not only
energy-intensive, but is also responsible for the huge emissions
of CO2, often referred to as green-house gas. The production of
cement signicantly contributes to global warming, which leads
to climate change. The utilization of agricultural waste can be
the break-through needed to make the industry more environmentally friendly and sustainable. Many types of agricultural waste can
be used as a partial replacement of cement, such as rice husk ash,
palm oil fuel ash, bamboo leaf ash, corn cob ash, wood waste ash,
and sugar cane bagasse ash. Therefore, the enhancement of the
existing knowledge and investigation of other useful agricultural
waste to be used as supplementary cementitious material (SCM)
in concrete mixture will be a valuable contribution and a viable
solution for sustainable construction as well as to produce greening in respect of the environment.

Acknowledgements
The authors gratefully acknowledge the nancial support from
University of Malaya under the University Malaya Research Fund
Assistance (BKP), Grant No. BK055-2014.

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