International Journal of Sustainable Built Environment (2016) xxx, xxxxxx

H O S T E D BY
Gulf Organisation for Research and Development

International Journal of Sustainable Built Environment

ScienceDirect
www.sciencedirect.com

Review Article

Concrete using agro-waste as ne aggregate for sustainable

built environment A review
Jnyanendra Kumar Prusty a,, Sanjaya Kumar Patro b, S.S. Basarkar c
a
School of Civil Engineering, KIIT University, Bhubaneswar, Odisha, India
b
Department of Civil Engineering, VSS University of Technology, Burla, Odisha, India
c
ITD Cementation India Ltd., Mumbai, India

Received 15 April 2015; accepted 12 June 2016

Abstract

High demand of natural resources due to rapid urbanization and the disposal problem of agricultural wastes in developed countries
have created opportunities for use of agro-waste in the construction industry. Many agricultural waste materials are already used in con-
crete as replacement alternatives for cement, ne aggregate, coarse aggregate and reinforcing materials. This paper reviews some of the
agro-waste materials, which are used as a partial replacement of ne aggregate in concrete. Dierent properties of fresh and hardened
concrete, their durability and thermal conductivity when admixed with agro-wastes are reviewed. Agro-waste used in self-compacting
concrete and mortar are also reviewed and their properties are compared. It has been seen that the agro-waste concrete containing
groundnut shell, oyster shell, cork, rice husk ash and tobacco waste showed better workability than their counterparts did. Agro-
waste concrete containing bagasse ash, sawdust ash and oyster shell achieved their required strength by 20% of replacement as ne aggre-
gate, which were maximum among all agro-waste type concrete. Close relations were predicted among compressive strength, exural
strength, tensile strength, ultrasonic pulse velocity and elastic modulus of agro-waste concrete. Addition of bagasse ash as ne aggregate
in mortar increased the resistance of chloride penetration whereas inclusion of cork in mortar showed better thermal resistance and
improved cyclic performance. After the review, it is of considerable nding that more research is deserved on all ne aggregates replacing
agro-waste materials, which can give more certainty on their utilization in concrete.
2016 Published by Elsevier B.V. on behalf of The Gulf Organisation for Research and Development.

Keywords: Agro-waste concrete; Agricultural waste; Fine aggregate; Sustainable concrete

Contents

1. Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 00
1.1. Agricultural wastes used as a fine aggregate replacement in concrete . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 00
1.1.1. Sugarcane bagasse ash (SCBA) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 00

Corresponding author.
E-mail addresses: jkumar.prusty@gmail.com (J.K. Prusty), litusanjay@yahoo.com (S.K. Patro), sunil.basarkar@itdcem.co.in (S.S. Basarkar).
Peer review under responsibility of The Gulf Organisation for Research and Development.

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ijsbe.2016.06.003
2212-6090/ 2016 Published by Elsevier B.V. on behalf of The Gulf Organisation for Research and Development.

Please cite this article in press as: Prusty, J.K. et al. Concrete using agro-waste as ne aggregate for sustainable built environment A review. Inter-
national Journal of Sustainable Built Environment (2016), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ijsbe.2016.06.003
2 J.K. Prusty et al. / International Journal of Sustainable Built Environment xxx (2016) xxxxxx

1.1.2. Groundnut shell . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 00

1.1.3. Oyster shell . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 00
1.1.4. Sawdust . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 00
1.1.5. Wild giant reed. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 00
1.1.6. Rice husk. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 00
1.1.7. Cork . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 00
1.1.8. Tobacco waste . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 00
2. Physical and chemical properties of agricultural wastes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 00
3. Mix proportion of agro-waste based concrete . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 00
4. Fresh properties of concrete . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 00
4.1. Slump test . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 00
4.2. Compaction factor test . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 00
4.3. Air content . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 00
4.4. Flow table test . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 00
4.5. Penetration and ball-drop . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 00
4.6. Water requirement and unit weight. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 00
4.7. Slump flow diameter and T50cm slump flow . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 00
4.8. V-funnel test . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 00
4.9. J-Ring test . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 00
5. Hardened properties of concrete . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 00
5.1. Compressive strength. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 00
5.1.1. Bagasse ash . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 00
5.1.2. Groundnut shell . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 00
5.1.3. Oyster shell . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 00
5.1.4. Sawdust ash . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 00
5.1.5. Wild giant reed. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 00
5.1.6. Rice husk ash. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 00
5.1.7. Cork . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 00
5.1.8. Tobacco waste . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 00
5.2. Tensile strength. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 00
5.3. Flexural strength . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 00
5.4. Elastic modulus (E-value) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 00
5.5. Ultrasonic pulse velocity (UPV) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 00
5.6. Shrinkage and creep . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 00
6. Durability . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 00
6.1. Freezing and thawing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 00
6.2. Chemical attack . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 00
6.3. Carbonation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 00
6.4. Permeability . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 00
6.5. Water absorption test . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 00
7. Thermal conductivity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 00
8. Cyclic behaviour . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 00
9. Future recommendation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 00
10. Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 00
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 00

1. Introduction waste, which is seriously leading to a disposal problem.

Concrete is a mixture of cement, ne aggregate and
coarse aggregate, which is mainly derived from natural
resources. Increasing population, expanding urbanization,
climbing way of life due to technological innovations has
demanded a huge amount of natural resources in the con-
struction industry, which has resulted in scarcity of
resources. This scarcity motivates the researchers to use,
solid wastes generated by industrial, mining, domestic and
agricultural activities. It is observed that in India more than
600 MT wastes have been generated from agricultural
Reuse of such wastes as sustainable construction materials
take care of the issue of contamination, as well as the issue
of area lling and the expense of building materials
(Madurwar et al., 2013). The Major quantity of solid wastes
generated in India is reported in Fig. 1. Shagh et al. (2014)
expressed that research on the utilization of agricultural
waste, as an aggregate substitution is generally new and
more research is needed for long-term durability properties
of concrete. They also studied the relationship between the
concrete made using this type of materials; environmentally
friendly concrete and green building rating systems.

Please cite this article in press as: Prusty, J.K. et al. Concrete using agro-waste as ne aggregate for sustainable built environment A review. Inter-
national Journal of Sustainable Built Environment (2016), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ijsbe.2016.06.003
 J.K. Prusty et al. / International Journal of Sustainable Built Environment xxx (2016) xxxxxx
The current Green Building Rating (GBR) systems eval-
uate the sustainability of buildings according to various
categories of which the construction material is one such
category in most of the systems. Issues like emission of car-
bon dioxide, use of energy, water, aggregates, llers and
demolition waste in concrete look less compatible with
environmental requirement of a modern sustainable con-
struction industry. At the same time, concrete made using
agricultural wastes has shown better thermal property in
research which can result in sustainability points in the
energy and atmosphere category of the LEED rating sys-
tem (Shagh et al., 2014).
1.1. Agricultural wastes used as a fine aggregate replacement
in concrete
The Agricultural wastes used as ne aggregate in con-
crete are sugarcane bagasse ash, groundnut shell, oyster
shell, sawdust, giant reed ash, rice husk ash, cork and
tobacco waste. The major dierences of these agro-wastes
are the place from where they collected and the processes
to convert into a ne aggregate. It can be observed that
sugarcane, giant reed, and rice husk are produced world-
wide and they have a similar type of processing, those are
burnt to convert into sugarcane bagasse ash, giant reed
ash and rice husk ash. These are used as partial replace-
ment of ne aggregate which provide additional pozzolanic
property in concrete. Groundnut shells are crushed in mill
to convert into ne aggregate prior to use in concrete. Oys-
ter shells are the sea shells generally available in coastal
areas. These are used as partial replacement of ne as well
1%
1%
1%
2%
2% 1%
2%
3%
3%
3%
3%
3%
3%
4%
4%
10%
13%
Fig. 1. Status of solid waste generated in India (Madurwar et al., 2013).
Please cite this article in press as: Prusty, J.K. et al. Concrete using agro-waste as ne aggregate for sustainable built environment A review. Inter-
national Journal of Sustainable Built Environment (2016), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ijsbe.2016.06.003
3
as coarse aggregate in coastal regions. Sawdust is generated
from mechanical processing of raw wood from saw mill
industry. These are dried by leaving in sun and sieved prop-
erly before using in concrete (Oyedepo et al., 2014). Cork
and tobacco wastes are collected and processed from cork
oak trees and cigarette making industries which were used
as ne aggregate replacement in concrete. The shape, size
and availability of mentioned agro-wastes are discussed
below. The purpose of this review is to study the properties
such as workability, mechanical properties, durability,
thermal conductivity of agricultural wastes used as a par-
tial replacement of ne aggregate in concrete.
1.1.1. Sugarcane bagasse ash (SCBA)
The brous residue (about 4045%) of sugarcane after
crushing and extraction of its juice is known as bagasse
(Loh et al., 2013). The bagasses are reused as fuel for heat
generation which leaves behind 810% of ash, known as sug-
arcane bagasse ash (SCBA) Modani and Vyawahare, 2013.
Sugarcane bagasse consists of approximately 50% of cellu-
lose, 25% of hemicellulose and 25% of lignin (Modani and
Vyawahare, 2013). Rukzon and Chindaprasirt (2012)
reviewed that a lot of sugarcane bagasse from the sugar fac-
tory is accessible in Thailand. Sugarcane bagasse is partly
utilized as fuel in sugar plant but the rest is treated as waste
and unutilized. As production of sugar cane is more than
1500 million tons in the world and in India, about 10 million
tons of sugarcane bagasse ash are treated as a waste material,
it can therefore be advantageous to use it as a ne aggregate
replacement in concrete to mitigate the disposal problem as
well as to minimize the use of natural aggregates (Modani
Coal Combustion Residues
Bagasse
Coal Mine
Municipal Waste
23%
Rice Husk
Lime Stone
Jute Fibre
Construction
Rice Wheat Straw
Blast Furnace
Groundnut Shell
Iron Tailing
Marble Dust
19% Waste Gypsum
Red Mud
Hazardous Waste
Copper Tailing
Lime Sludge
Zinc Tailing
4 J.K. Prusty et al. / International Journal of Sustainable Built Environment xxx (2016) xxxxxx

Fig. 2. Sugarcane bagasse ash.

and Vyawahare, 2013). Fig. 2 shows the raw sugarcane
bagasse and the sugarcane bagasse ash which is used as ne
aggregate replacement in concrete. Sales and Lima (2010)
analysed the SCBA samples to determine the crystallinity
by X-ray diractometry, leachability and particle morphol-
ogy by scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The X-ray
diractometry test result revealed the absence of an amor-
phous halo in the diractograms (Sales and Lima, 2010).
Quartz appeared as the principal element of SCBA. The
SEM analysis revealed that the SCBA samples were com-
posed of grains with varied shapes and sizes up to 150 lm.
Authors (Sales and Lima, 2010) suggested that these ndings
reinforce the hypothesis of using SCBA as a substitute for
ne aggregate which has binding properties.
1.1.2. Groundnut shell
Groundnut shell can be found in large quantities as agri-
cultural farm waste in Nigeria, producing up to 2.699 mil-
lion metric tons per year (Sada et al., 2013). Groundnut
shell was rst planted in South Africa mainly Brazil and
later spread to other part of America, Asia, and northwest-
ern Argentina (Tata et al., 2015). The outer part of ground-
nut is called groundnut shell. Over a period of years, it is
treated as a solid waste. Utilization of groundnut shell in
the construction industry is expected to solve the pollution
problem and increase the economic base of farmers, which
encourage them to increase the production (Sada et al.,
2013). Groundnut shell is already used for developing roof
sheet materials (Akindapo et al., 2015), sandcrete blocks
(Mahmoud et al., 2012), as cement replacement (Olutoge
et al., 2013; Buari et al., 2013; Kanagalakshmi et al.,
2015) and as ne aggregate replacement (Sada et al.,
2013; Tata et al., 2015) in concrete. Fig. 3 shows the
groundnut and its crushed shell which can be used as ne
aggregate in concrete.
1.1.3. Oyster shell
Aquaculture is one of the key businesses in island
nations. The southwestern seaside territory of Taiwan pri-
marily develops oysters. As per the information of shery
commercial enterprises, the oyster shell yield was
300,000 tons over the last ve years, which would initiate
environmental pollution concerns (Kuo et al., 2013).
Yang et al. (2010, 2005) stated the same problem created
by oyster shell in South Korea, can be solved by their uti-
lization in the construction industry. One of the most pop-
ular uses of oyster shell in construction industry
throughout history has been in its burnt form as lime
known as quicklime. Recently researchers (Kuo et al.,
2013; Yang et al., 2010, 2005) studied the properties of oys-
ter shell based concrete using oyster shell as ne aggregate,
which are discussed briey in following sections. Fig. 4
shows the shape of the oyster shell used in concrete. Oyster
shell grows over the years and it is found in several sizes.
The shells are spiral in structure and having rough surface

Fig. 3. Groundnut shell.

Please cite this article in press as: Prusty, J.K. et al. Concrete using agro-waste as ne aggregate for sustainable built environment A review. Inter-
national Journal of Sustainable Built Environment (2016), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ijsbe.2016.06.003
 J.K. Prusty et al. / International Journal of Sustainable Built Environment xxx (2016) xxxxxx 5

Fig. 4. Oyster shell.

texture. It should be crushed properly as per the code
requirement prior to use in concrete.
1.1.4. Sawdust
Sawdust is the main component of particleboard. It has
a variety of other practical uses including serving as mulch,
an alternative to clay cat litter, or as a fuel. It can present as
a hazardous material in manufacturing industry, in terms
of its ammability (Ganiron, 2014). The use of sawdust
for making lightweight concrete has received some atten-
tion over the past years (Udoeyo and Dashibil, 2002).
Mageswari and Vidivelli (2009) reported, that as a substitu-
tion material for natural sand, sawdust ash might be the
right choice as ne aggregate in concrete. It can consider-
ably reduce the dumping problem and simultaneously helps
the preservation of natural ne aggregate. Fig. 5 shows the
shape of the sawdust which is treated as a waste material.
Many researchers tested the behaviour of sawdust ash in
concrete and reported that sawdust possessed unique char-
acteristics, which make it competitive among other con-
struction materials (Mageswari and Vidivelli, 2009).
1.1.5. Wild giant reed
Giant reed is an aggressive wild agricultural species
which can be found all over the world. It has hollow, rigid,
woody stalks which are nearly one inch in diameter and can
grow over 13 feet in height as shown in Fig. 6. Continuous
reduction of natural resources and at the same time the
environmental hazards posed by the disposal of several
waste materials create an opportunity to use this waste

Fig. 5. Sawdust.

Fig. 6. Giant reed bres and its ash.

Please cite this article in press as: Prusty, J.K. et al. Concrete using agro-waste as ne aggregate for sustainable built environment A review. Inter-
national Journal of Sustainable Built Environment (2016), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ijsbe.2016.06.003
6 J.K. Prusty et al. / International Journal of Sustainable Built Environment xxx (2016) xxxxxx

material in concrete (Ismail and Jaeel, 2014). Research
work on the utilization of giant reed bres and giant reed
ash is reviewed in this paper.
1.1.6. Rice husk
Rice husk is one of the fundamental agrarian wastes
obtained from the external covering of rice grains amid
the processing procedure. Fig. 7 shows the shape of the rice
husk and its ash. The rice husk has no useful application
and is treated as a waste material that creates the pollution
problem (Givi et al., 2010). Because of low nutrition prop-
erty of rice husk, it is unsuitable and does not have edibility
yet in a few nations, it has been utilized generally as fuel for
rice plants and electric power plants as a compelling tech-
nique to reduce the volume of rice husk waste
(Madandoust et al., 2011). Many researchers in the past
had used rice husk ash as a cement replacement material
in concrete (Givi et al., 2010; Madandoust et al., 2011;
Zaid and Ganiyat, 2009). After colossal researches Iam
and Makul (2013) tested the properties of self-
compacting concrete using rice husk and limestone as a ne
aggregate replacement. It was reported that use of rice husk
ash in self-compacting concrete reduced the unit weight,
owability, porosity, water absorption, compressive
strength, ultrasonic pulse velocity and the cost. Shagh
et al. (2014) reported the use of rice husk as cement replac-
ing material, re making, litter material, marking the con-
crete, board production, as silicon carbide whiskers to
reinforce ceramic cutting tools and aggregate replacement
in concrete in low-cost housing.
1.1.7. Cork
Cork is a renewable resource. It is a natural lightweight
cellular material separated from the bark of Cork Oak
trees. Fig. 8 shows the processing of cork and its particle
size. The worlds cork creation is evaluated at 340,000 tons
per year from approximately 22,000 km2 of cork forests
and it is assessed that yearly, 68,00085,000 tons of cork
remains an under-utilized waste (Panesar and Shindman,
2012). Variety of analysts utilized cork as a part of con-
struction industry mainly in cement mortar because of its
unique composition and cell structure, which gives low
density, low thermal conductivity, good sound absorption
and water resistance (Panesar and Shindman, 2012).
Novoa et al. (2004) considered the low density and low
stiness of cork and introduced it in a mortar formulation
to diminish the material weight and brittleness respectively.
Cork also exhibited low strength and extensive compressive
strain, prompting more energy absorbing material (Novoa
et al., 2004).
1.1.8. Tobacco waste
Large quantities of tobacco waste are produced annu-
ally by processing and cigarette making (Shagh et al.,
2014). Fig. 9 shows the shape of tobacco waste used in con-
crete. Ozturk and Bayrakl (2005) carried out a study to

Fig. 7. Rice husk ash.

Fig. 8. Cork processing and its particle size.

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 J.K. Prusty et al. / International Journal of Sustainable Built Environment xxx (2016) xxxxxx 7

Fig. 9. Tobacco waste.

120
sand [8]

GNS [8]
Percentage of Passing

90
WOS [15]

CORK [34]
60
Upper limit (ASTM
C33)
Lower limit (ASTM
30 C33)
Upper limit (BS 882)

Lower limit (BS 882)

0
0.01 0.1 1 10

Sieve size (mm)

Fig. 10. Sieve Analysis of sand (Sada et al., 2013), groundnut Shell (GNS) Sada et al., 2013, waste oyster shell (WOS) Kuo et al., 2013 and cork (Bras
et al., 2014).

determine the possible use of tobacco waste in concrete.
They tested dierent properties with varying percentage
replacement of tobacco waste and pumice. Based on den-
sity, lightweight concretes are divided into three groups.
Low density and low compressive strength which is used
in isolation, middle density and middle compressive
strength concretes used for briquette producing and the
carrier lightweight concretes are used in constructing foun-
dations and supporting parts (Short et al., 1978; Bhatty
and Reid, 1989). Ozturk and Bayrakl (2005) found the
low density and compressive strength of tobacco waste
which can be used as an isolation material in concrete.
All the material properties of tobacco waste are discussed
in the following sections.
2. Physical and chemical properties of agricultural wastes
The particle size distribution of sand and dierent agro-
waste used in concrete and mortar is illustrated in Fig. 10.
It can be seen that sand and groundnut shell follow the lim-
its of particle size as per ASTM C33 standard (American
Society for Testing and Materials, 1978). Similarly, waste
oyster shell followed the limits of BS 882 (British
Standard Institute, 1992). It can be observed that the over-
all passing percentage of cork (Bras et al., 2014) was similar
as that of sand and other materials.
The physical properties of sand, crushed granite and dif-
ferent agricultural waste which are used in agro-waste con-
crete are presented in Table 1. It can be observed that
properties such as specic gravity and neness modulus
of agro-wastes were nearly similar or less than the range
of natural sand presented in that same table. Sales and
Lima (2010) reported that specic gravity (2.45), bulk den-
sity (2040 kg/m3) and water absorption (0.88%) of SCBA
met the requisites of Brazilian standards NM 52 (2004),
NM 45 (2004) and NM 30 (2001) respectively. According
to Shafana and Venkatasubramani (2014)s report, specic
gravity and neness modulus of SCBA satised the guide-
lines of IS 2386 part-3 (Indian Standard, 1963) and part-1
(Indian Standard, 1963b) respectively. Bulk density of
GNS (254.55 kg/m3), SDA (1250 kg/m3) and WGR
(535 kg/m3) is very much smaller than the range of sand
(14281744) which indicates that the agro-waste contains
more voids in comparison to the conventional ne aggre-
gate and it can adversely aect the workability, strength
and durability of the agro-based concrete or mortar. Water
absorption of GNS (1.61%) falls within the range of natu-
ral river sand (0.742.9%) however, water absorption of OS
ranging 2.97.66% which is higher than the range of natu-
ral aggregates as well as the other agro-wastes. Cork shows
0.1% of water absorption that indicates good water resis-
tance property.

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 8
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Table 1
Physical properties of sand, granite and agricultural waste used as replacement of ne aggregate.
Properties Sand Crushed Granite SCBA1 GNS2 OS3 SDA5 WGR6 RHA4 Cork
Modani and Vyawahare Modani and Vyawahare Modani and Sada Kuo et al. Mageswari Ismail Iam and Panesar and
(2013), Rukzon and (2013), Rukzon and Vyawahare (2013), et al. (2013), and Vidivelli and Makul Shindman (2012),
Chindaprasirt (2012), Sada Chindaprasirt (2012), Shafana and (2013) Yang (2009) Jaeel (2013) Novoa et al. (2004),
et al. (2013), Kuo et al. Sada et al. (2013), Kuo Venkatasubramani et al. (2014) Bras et al. (2014),
(2013), Yang et al. (2010), et al. (2013), Yang et al. (2014), Shah et al. (2010), (2013), Moreira et al.
(2005), Mageswari and (2010), (2005), Mageswari (2014) (2005) (2014), Carvalho et al.
Vidivelli (2009), Ismail and and Vidivelli (2009), Iam (2013)
Jaeel (2014), Iam and and Makul (2013),
Makul (2013), Novoa et al. Shafana and
(2004), Bras et al. (2014), Venkatasubramani (2014),
(2013), Shafana and Shah et al. (2014)
Venkatasubramani (2014),
Shah et al. (2014)
Specic gravity 2.382.64 2.62.83 1.252.54 2.12.48 2.5 2.03
Fineness Modulus 2.213.44 5.967.52 1.422.12 22.8 1.78
Bulk Density (kg/m3) 14281744 13651744 8372040 254.55 1250 535 112.4
Water Absorption (%) 0.742.9 0.571.8 0.88 1.61 2.97.66 0.1
Moisture Content (%) 0.940.97 0.81
Silt Content (%) 5.713
Flakiness index (%) 1
Elongation index (%) 9.61
1
SCBA-Sugarcane Bagasse Ash.
2
GNS-Groundnut Shell.
3
OS-Oyster Shell.
4
RHA-Rice Husk Ash.
5
SDA-Saw Dust.
6
WRG-Wild Giant Reed.
 J.K. Prusty et al. / International Journal of Sustainable Built Environment xxx (2016) xxxxxx 9

Table 2
Chemical properties of agro-waste.
Chemical Sugarcane Bagasse ash Oyster Shell Saw Dust Rice Husk Tobacco Waste
Compounds Modani and Vyawahare (2013), Shafana and Kuo et al. (2013), Mageswari and Ash Ozturk and
(%) Venkatasubramani (2014), Shah et al. (2014) Yang et al. (2005) Vidivelli (2009) Iam and Bayrakl (2005)
Makul (2013)
SiO2 62.4390 213.28 65.3 89.87
Al2O3 2.854.28 0.5 4 0.14
Fe2O3 4.766.98 0.2 2.23 0.94
CaO 111.8 51.0677.81 9.6 0.49
MgO 0.073.61 0.51 5.8
SO3 1.48 0.061.09
K2O 3.193.53 0.060.51 0.11 2.16
P2O5 0.232 0.43
Fe 24 0.46
N 0.20.3
Na2O 0.58 0.07 0.25
TiO2 0.02
Mn2O3 0.02
P2O5 0.18
SrO 0.09
K2+Na2 510
Cl 2.92
MnO 0.01
SO2 0.45
Zn 0.0098
Mn 0.026
Cu 0.0021
Ca 5.72
Mg 0.8
K 1.03
Na 0.09
P 0.2
Organic matter 66.21
LOI 1.864.73 44.16 4.81

The chemical properties of agricultural wastes are pre-
sented in Table 2. It can be observed that the chemical
composition of SCBA, RHA and SD is dominated by sili-
con dioxide (SiO2). The sum of SiO2, Al2O3 and Fe2O3 of
SCBA, RHA and SD is higher than 70%, the required
chemical composition of natural pozzolana as per ASTM
C618 (American Society for Testing and Materials, 2005).
Thus, the utilization of these mentioned agro-wastes as ne
aggregate replacement could help in the hydration process
of the agro-based concrete or mortar. Oyster shell (OS) dif-
fers from the other agro-wastes by its CaO content (51.06
77.81%) and LOI (44.16%). The ASTM C618 standard
(American Society for Testing and Materials, 2005) and
Brazilian standard (NBR 12653) Brazilian Standard, 1992
limits the LOI content of 6%. It can be observed that
SCBA and RHA satisfy the limitation of mentioned stan-
dards, however oyster shell does not. Tobacco waste con-
tains the highest percentage of organic matter (66.21).
3. Mix proportion of agro-waste based concrete
Selected mix proportions of agro-waste based concrete
are presented in Table 3. Researchers have attempted dier-
ent target strengths ranging from 20 MPa to 51.6 MPa using
dierent cement types, agro-waste types, replacement levels
of ne aggregate and water-cement ratio. Dierent codes
such as IS 10262: 2009 (Indian Standard, 2009), ACI 211.1
(American Concrete Institute, 1991), KCI (Korea
Concrete Institute, 1999), AIK (Korea Concrete Institute
and Architectural Institute of Korea, 1999), and CSA
A23.3-09 (Canadian Standards Association, 2009) have
been followed by dierent researchers (Modani and
Vyawahare, 2013; Sales and Lima, 2010; Yang et al., 2010;
Panesar and Shindman, 2012; Shafana and
Venkatasubramani, 2014; Shah et al., 2014) for mix propor-
tioning the agro-waste concrete. Researchers (Modani and
Vyawahare, 2013; Shafana and Venkatasubramani, 2014;
Shah et al., 2014) targeted dierent strengths of M20, M25
and M30 by replacing SCBA of maximum 50% of ne aggre-
gate in concrete. Sales and Lima (Sales and Lima, 2010) have
used three dierent types of cement, sulphate resisting Port-
land cement, blast furnace slag cement and slag modied
Portland cement to achieve three dierent target strengths.
They have designed the concrete with SCBA based on the
ABCP (Brazilian Portland cement association) method
which was adopted from ACI method (American Concrete
Institute, 1991). Yang et al. (2010) reported that substitution
ratio of oyster shell was determined considering chloride ion
amounts contained in OS to satisfy the requirement of the
Korea Concrete Institute (KCI) Korea Concrete Institute,

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10 J.K. Prusty et al. / International Journal of Sustainable Built Environment xxx (2016) xxxxxx

1999 and Architectural Institute of Korea (AIK) Korea

0.530.55
0.520.54

0.430.45
0.520.54
w/c ratio
Concrete Institute and Architectural Institute of Korea,

0.45
0.45
0.55
0.4

0.5

0.4

0.4
1999 codes. Panesar and Shindman (2012) followed the
Canadian standard (CSA 23.2-09 Canadian Standards
SP* (%)

Association, 2009) for proportioning cork based concrete.

0.82
0.8
They replaced the cork from 0 to 20% of ne aggregate with
a w/c ratio of 0.4. They have used superplasticizer of 0.82%

0, 10, 15, 20, 25, 30

2.5, 5, 7.5, 10, 12.5
0, 5, 15, 25, 50, 75 to maintain the workability of cork based concrete. The cor-
Replacement (%)
0, 10, 20, 30, 40

0, 5, 10, 15, 20 responding fresh and hardened properties are discussed in

10, 20, 30, 40

following sections.
0, 30, 50
0, 30, 50

0, 10, 20
0, 10, 20

0, 10, 20
0, 30, 50

4. Fresh properties of concrete

4.1. Slump test

Giant reed bre and Giant reed ash

Slump test, is a very common test to assess the workabil-

ity of any kind of concrete. Table 4 represents the slump
value of dierent agro-waste based concretes in dierent
Sugarcane bagasse ash
Sugarcane bagasse ash
Sugarcane bagasse ash
Sugarcane bagasse ash

Sugarcane bagasse ash

Sugarcane bagasse ash
Name of agro-waste

replacement levels. It can be observed that in the case of

Agro-waste used

Groundnut shell

bagasse ash (Modani and Vyawahare, 2013), groundnut

shell (Sada et al., 2013), oyster shell (Kuo et al., 2013)
Oyster shell
Oyster shell
Oyster shell

and giant reed (Ismail and Jaeel, 2014) based concrete,

the slump value was maximum at 0% replacement and then
Cork

it decreased in further increasing the amount of agro-waste.

This type of behaviour in slump value was due to the high
Sulphate resisting Portland cement

water absorption of agro-wastes which declined the ow

Slag-modied Portland cement

ability of the mix at same w/c ratio. However, it can be

observed that the slump value of tobacco waste based con-
Blast furnace slag cement

crete was increased as the substitution of tobacco waste

Type of cement used

increased (Ozturk and Bayrakl, 2005).

OPC (53 grade)

OPC (53 grade)

PPC (53 grade)

Modani and Vyawahare (2013) reported that the slump

OPC Type-1
OPC Type-1
OPC Type-1

value of sugarcane bagasse ash concrete decreased, when

the substitution of bagasse ash increased and it became
unworkable when the replacement was 40%. Sada et al.
OPC

OPC
OPC

(2013)s experiment showed that the slump value of

groundnut shell concrete was less, compared to all other
51.6 MPa
38.6 MPa
31.6 MPa
strength

30 MPa

agro-waste based concretes. Authors (Sada et al., 2013)

Design

M20

M30

M30

M30
M25

suggested that, these low workable concrete could be used

in road construction and light weight concretes. Kuo et al.
KCI and AIK code

(2013) reported that waste oyster shell, as a sand replace-

ment showed the slump value in the range between 215
CSA A 23.209
IS 10262: 2009

IS 10262: 2009
IS 10262: 2009
Selected mix proportion of agro-waste based concrete.

and 265 mm which is highest among all agro-waste based

ACI 211.1

normal concrete. In contradictory, Yang et al. (2005)

reported that the slump value of oyster shell based concrete
Code

was near about 90 mm at 0% replacement and became

unworkable at 20% replacement level. Thus, they suggested

Shafana and Venkatasubramani (2014)

to add selected admixture while targeting better slump

value. Ismail and Jaeel (2014) found the decreasing slump
Modani and Vyawahare (2013)

Panesar and Shindman (2012)

value, using giant reed bres and giant reed ashes as ne

aggregate replacement in concrete. They reasoned that
SP Superplasticizer.
Ismail and Jaeel (2014)

the reduction of slump value was due to the angularity of

Sales and Lima (2010)

particles and the water absorption of ash.

Yang et al. (2010)
Yang et al. (2005)

Shah et al. (2014)

Sada et al. (2013)
Kuo et al. (2013)

4.2. Compaction factor test

Table 3

Author

Table 5 shows the compacting factor values of bagasse

*

ash and groundnut shell for dierent replacement percent-

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 J.K. Prusty et al. / International Journal of Sustainable Built Environment xxx (2016) xxxxxx 11

Table 4
Slump value of agro-waste concrete in dierent percentage of replacement.
Percentage of Bagasse ash Groundnut Oyster shell Giant reed ash Giant reed bre Tobacco waste
replacement Modani and Vyawahare shell Yang et al. Ismail and Jaeel Ismail and Jaeel Ozturk and Bayrakl
(2013) Sada et al. (2010) (2014) (2014) (2005)
(2013)
0 110 52 265 58 65
2.5 55 61
5 38 250 54 59
7.5 52 56
10 78 250 49 55
12.5 48 54
15 20 250
20 65 215 110
25 15 -
30 32 140
40 7 -
50 5 150
75 5 -
All slump values are in mm.

Table 5 provisions of American Society for Testing Materials

Compacting factor values of agro-waste concrete. (1999) and Bras et al. (2014). Bras et al. (2014) xed a tar-
Percentage of Bagasse ash Groundnut get value of 175 10 mm in terms of water and high range
replacement Modani and Vyawahare shell water reducer (HRWR) quantity for each mortar. Based on
(2013) Sada et al. this target value, adjustments were adopted in selected
(2013)
mortar compositions in terms of water-binder ratio and
0 0.92 0.88 high range water reducer (HRWR) percentage. It was
5 0.84 0.89
observed that the workability decreased in the case of
10 0.81
15 0.75 0.88 increasing the cork dosage, which is due to the reduction
20 0.64 of binder paste (Bras et al., 2014). For cork dosage less
25 0.82 than 20%, all mortars exhibited good workability even
50 0.78 after 30 min of the mix preparatory.
75 0.75

4.5. Penetration and ball-drop

ages. It can be observed that this parameter decreases when
the percentage of replacement increases. These values are
reduced from 0.92 to 0.64, which conveys, good workabil-
ity property to the very low workability of agro-waste con-
crete. Sada et al. (2013) reported that the use of groundnut
shell reduced the concretes workability due to high
absorption of water.
4.3. Air content
Yang et al. (2005) analysed the eect of the substitution
ratio of oyster shell in concrete using the pressure method.
They measured constant values of air contents, when the
air entrained; water-reducing admixtures were not used.
However, when they used water-reducing admixture, the
air content signicantly increased. It is to be noted that this
factor depends on the degree of increment with substitution
ratio and type of oyster shell.
Kuo et al. (2013) conducted the penetration and ball-
drop test under various replacements of oyster shell in con-
crete. They observed that the penetration became 2.74 MPa
at 210260 min, when the replacement increased from 0%
to 5%, which conforming the required 35 h for early
strength controlled low strength materials. It has been
observed that the addition of waste oyster shell aected
the time of penetration (Kuo et al., 2013).
The ball-drop test value is the preliminary index of the
bearing capacity of the material. Kuo et al. (2013) carried
out the ball-drop test with diameter of indentation as
4.9 cm, at 5% replacement of waste oyster shell, and this
value was increased gradually as the replacement ratio
increased. The indentation diameter was 4.95.9 cm that
is less than 7.6 cm, indicating that the mix ratio had the suf-
cient bearing ratio for the construction (Kuo et al., 2013).
The test results are represented in Fig. 11.

4.4. Flow table test 4.6. Water requirement and unit weight

Workability of fresh mortar was determined using a Iam and Makul (2013) reported that the water require-
ow table test. The measurement was done as per ment increased with increasing rice husk ash content, which

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500
Reached penetration pressure 2.74 MPa of the time
8 concrete mixtures (Iam and Makul, 2013). Flow times were
Ball drop acceptable up to 20% replacement of rice husk ash, which
400 are within the acceptable limit provided by EFNARC
6

Ball drop (cm)

(2002) guideline, that is, between 8 s and 12 s.
Time (mins)

300
4
200 4.9. J-Ring test
2
100
Iam and Makul (2013) adopted the J-ring test to check
0 0
the passing ability of concrete under its own weight to com-
0 5 10 15 20 pletely ll all voids and to obtain the blocking assessment.
WOS content (%) According to American Society for Testing Materials
Fig. 11. Eect of waste oyster shell content on penetration and ball-drop (2014), 025 mm denes no visible blocking, 2550 mm
test (Kuo et al., 2013). denes minimal to noticeable blocking and greater than
50 mm denes noticeable to extreme blocking. Authors
(Iam and Makul, 2013) reported that up to 40% replace-
is due to increasing surface area, and high-unburned car- ment of rice husk ash indicated small degree of blocking,
bon content of rice husk ash. However, the use of rice husk while more than 60% of replacement indicated extreme
ash combined with limestone reduced the water require- blocking behaviour and a combination of rice husk ash
ment. The unit weight of self-compacting concrete and limestone indicated a good passing ability and good
decreased with increasing percentage of rice husk ash. resistance to segregation around congested reinforced
Unit weight of tobacco waste concrete varied between areas.
0.50 and 0.56 kg/m3, indicating that the concrete samples
were in the heat isolation lightweight concrete categories
(Sahin et al., 2000). 5. Hardened properties of concrete

5.1. Compressive strength

4.7. Slump flow diameter and T50cm slump flow
5.1.1. Bagasse ash
Iam and Makul (2013) used rice husk ash as ne aggre- Researchers (Modani and Vyawahare, 2013; Shafana
gate replacement in self-compacting concrete (SCC) and and Venkatasubramani, 2014; Shah et al., 2014) have con-
reported that the slump ow diameter ranged between ducted the compressive strength of bagasse ash concrete as
690 and 700 mm up to 80% of the replacement level. They
also combined the rice husk ash and limestone by dierent
percentages as a ne aggregate replacement in SCC and 35
Compressive strength (MPa)

(a) 7 Days M20 [5]

observed the slump ow diameters were between 600 mm 30
M25 [48]
and 710 mm, which comes within the workability require- 25
ment range of 650800 mm as per American Society for M30 [38]
20
Testing Materials (2014) and EFNARC (2002).
15
The time required for the self-compacting concrete to
10
reach the slump ow of 50 cm diameter were within 3
7 s, the range considered acceptable in EFNARC (2002) 5
guidelines (Iam and Makul, 2013). Iam and Makul (2013) 0
observed that the slump ow time of SCC increased with 0 5 10 15 20 25 30 40
increasing rice husk ash as well as limestone. The increased Percentage replacement
slump ow time varies from 6 to 15 s and 616 s for SCC 45
(b) 28 Days
Compressive strength (Mpa)

mixtures containing RHA and RHA with limestone respec- 40

M20 [5]
tively. Authors (Iam and Makul, 2013) predicted that the M25 [48]
35
M30 [38]
slump ow time increased due to the increased surface area 30
of rice husk ash, which increased the viscosity of paste. 25
This increased viscosity reduces the risk of segregation at 20
the time of placement of concrete. 15
10
5
4.8. V-funnel test 0
0 5 10 15 20 25 30 40
V-funnel test was taken to measure the required time for Percentage replacement

concrete mixtures to ow through a funnel and provide an Fig. 12. Compressive strength of bagasse ash concrete at (a) 7 days and
evaluation of viscosity and segregation resistance of (b) 28 days of curing.

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per IS 516: 1959 (Indian Standard, 1959). Concrete using
sugarcane bagasse ash as ne aggregate shows an increas-
ing compressive strength at 10% replacement than the con-
trol concrete, but further increase of bagasse ash decreased
the strength as reported by Modani and Vyawahare (2013).
Shafana and Venkatasubramani (2014) reported the same
result with sugarcane bagasse ash concrete in which com-
pressive strength improved by increasing the curing period.
Fig. 12(a) and (b) represents the compressive strength of
bagasse ash concrete in dierent mix proportions and cur-
ing periods. In case of M25 (Shah et al., 2014) and M30
(Shafana and Venkatasubramani, 2014) grade of concrete,
it can be observed that concrete achieved its minimum
compressive strength at 20% replacement of bagasse ash.
Almeida et al. (2015) reported that the use of sugarcane
bagasse ash as ne aggregate did not aect the compressive
strength of mortar.
5.1.2. Groundnut shell
Sada et al. (2013) performed an experiment using
groundnut shells as a ne aggregate replacement having a
mix ratio of 1:2:3, in which they observed that the compres-
sive strength increased at 5% replacement than the control
concrete. However, it decreased by further increment of
replacement, which behaved like a lightweight concrete.
They also reported that groundnut shell concrete could
not be used in important structural members, which are
exposed to water, since moisture aects the weight and
strength (Sada et al., 2013).
5.1.3. Oyster shell
Yang et al. (2010) tested the compressive strength of
oyster shell concrete over a long period of 1 year based
on American Society for Testing and Materials (1979).
They reported that oyster shell substitution as a ne aggre-
gate showed a drastic increase of compressive strength
from 7 days to 28 days curing period and after 28 days,
eect was apparent. The compressive strength variance
was not proportional to the substitution ratio, which is
clear from Fig. 13. Yang et al. (2005) tested the compres-
35
Compressive strength (MPa)
30
25
20
15
10
5 (LS) and a mixture of RHA and LS in cylinder of 150
0 aging for 1, 7, 28 and 91 days in accordance with American
7days 28days
MIX 1:1.85:2.62 [16]
Fig. 13. Compressive strength of oyster shell concrete.
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13
sive strength using oyster shell as ne aggregate with and
without admixture. They reported the compressive strength
of concrete increased at oyster shell substitution of 5%, but
the substitution ratio can be increased up to 10% using
admixture in the concrete mix. Kuo et al. Kuo et al.
(2013) also examined the same result regarding the oyster
shell concrete and the compressive strength decreased due
to the porous structure and the absorption rate of oyster
shell sand.
From Fig. 13 it can be observed that in the mix
1:1.85:2.62 (Yang et al., 2010) the strength increased mar-
ginally at 20% replacement of oyster shell than the control
concrete, but in the case of controlled low strength concrete
(mix 1:6.4:2 Kuo et al., 2013) the strength decreased at all
replacement levels than the control concrete.
5.1.4. Sawdust ash
Mageswari and Vidivelli (2009) have cast the concrete
using sawdust ash as ne aggregate in both cube and cylin-
der. They followed the procedure of compressive strength
test as per IS 516: 1959 (Indian Standard, 1959). It has been
seen that the strength of concrete containing 5%, 10% and
15% mix ratio of sawdust ash was higher than that of con-
trol concrete. However, concrete containing 20%30% of
sawdust ash displayed a reduction in compressive strength
than that of plain concrete.
5.1.5. Wild giant reed
Ismail and Jaeel (2014) added giant reed ash and giant
reed bre in concrete as ne aggregate to check the com-
pressive strength of concrete. Casting, compaction and cur-
ing were accomplished according to BS 1881 (British
Standard Institute, 1983). They reported that in earlier
stages of the replacement, compressive strength increased
and at higher percentages, it decreased in comparison to
the strength of control concrete. However, for all cases
the compressive strength was higher than the minimum
requirement. Fig. 14 represents comparison of the strength
of giant reed ash and giant reed bres, which conrms that
at 7.5% of replacement, giant reed ash concrete provides
optimal strength. The cause of such behaviour of giant reed
ash concrete is due to the content of silica; giant reed ash
may have pozzolanic activity. However, silica with an alu-
mina content of their structure may form additional cal-
cium silicate hydrate (C-S-H) by reacting with calcium
0%
hydroxide occurring because of cement hydration, which
10%
increases the strength of concrete (Ismail and Jaeel, 2014).
20%
5.1.6. Rice husk ash
Iam and Makul (2013) have cast the self-compacting
concrete samples using rice husk ash (RHA), limestone
mm diameter and 300 mm length. Samples were tested after
7 days 28days
Society for Testing and Materials (1979). Compressive
MIX 1:6.4:2 [15]
strength value was very low at 100% replacement of rice
husk ash and it was maximum at 10% replacement of only
14 J.K. Prusty et al. / International Journal of Sustainable Built Environment xxx (2016) xxxxxx
45
40
Compressive strength (MPa)
35
30
25
20
15
10
5
0
Fig. 14. Compressive strength of Giant Reed Ash (GRA) and Giant Reed Fibres (GRF) based concrete at mix 1: 1.78: 2.23 (Ismail and Jaeel, 2014).
limestone. The compressive strength value decreased, when
the replacement level increased. They attributed lower
compressive strength due to greater porosity as indicated
by the higher water requirement of rice husk ash and lime-
stone. However, they found that rice husk ash was able to
ll the micro-voids in improved way within the cement par-
ticles (Iam and Makul, 2013).
5.1.7. Cork
Bras et al. Bras et al. (2013) tested the compressive
strength of mortar containing cork as ne aggregate and
indicated that addition of cork generated a mortar having
lower compressive strength. These values may be expected
due to higher water binder ratio than the control mortar
and an increase of cork as sand replacement. They also
explained that when cork replacement is higher than
50%, there was no major dierence in compressive strength
of mortar that is just 20% of the compressive strength of
control mortar (Bras et al., 2013).
Compressive strength of lightweight polymer mortar
containing waste cork was higher than that of normal mor-
tar as reported by Novoa et al. (2004). Moreira et al. (2014)
tested the compressive strength of lightweight screed con-
taining expanded cork according to NP EN 12390-3:2011
(Portuguese Standards, 2011) at the age of 7, 28, 56, and
84 days. They reported that the compressive strength
increased, with increase of cement content and it reduced
with increase of percentage cork granulates.
5.1.8. Tobacco waste
The 28 day cube compressive strength of tobacco waste
lightweight concrete sample was within 0.20.6 N/mm2
which varied on the mix ratio. It has been observed that
minor amount of organic matter, which is tobacco waste,
resulted in a high compressive strength of concrete. The
compressive strength of tobacco waste was under 1 N/
mm2 due to which, this lightweight concrete can be sug-
gested to be used as an insulating material for coating
and separation material into construction (Ozturk and
Bayrakl, 2005).
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7days 7days 14days 14days 28days 28days
0 2.5 5 7.5 10 12.5
Percentage of replacement
From the above compressive strength analysis, it can be
observed that, in case of agro-waste concrete containing
bagasse ash, saw dust ash and oyster shell, minimum
strength of concrete is achieved by a maximum 20%
replacement, but with further increase of replacement,
strength decreased. However, the maximum compressive
strength of concrete containing groundnut shell and giant
reed (both GRA and GRF) was achieved at 5% and
7.5% respectively. Cork and rice husk ash also showed
good strength in mortar and self-compacting concrete as
ne aggregate replacement.
5.2. Tensile strength
Researchers (Modani and Vyawahare, 2013; Mageswari
and Vidivelli, 2009; Shafana and Venkatasubramani, 2014)
have conducted the tensile strength of agro-waste based
concrete in accordance with IS 5816: 1999 (Indian
Standard, 1999). Modani and Vyawahare (2013) reported
that the tensile strength of concrete decreased by addition
of sugarcane bagasse ash whereas in case of other agro-
waste materials, tensile strength was initially increased
and then decreased as increasing the percentage of replace-
ment. Shafana and Venkatasubramani (2014) also
observed that bagasse ash increased the tensile strength
with optimum strength gain achieved at 10% replacement
value. Fig. 15 represents the relation between compressive
strength and tensile strength of M20 and M30 grade of
concrete with the substitution of bagasse ash. Relation in
M20 grade of concrete shows that, tensile strength of
bagasse ash concrete can be predicted very closely like con-
ventional concrete in the following form:
f t 0:7f 0:56
ck R2 0:784 1
where f t and f ck are tensile and compressive strength of
concrete in MPa. However, in case of M30 grade of
bagasse ash concrete the regression coecient, R2 is more
appropriate than the M20 grade of concrete.
f t 0:644f 0:521
ck R2 0:985 2
 J.K. Prusty et al. / International Journal of Sustainable Built Environment xxx (2016) xxxxxx 15

4.5 4.5
(a) ft = 0.700 (fck)0.556
Tensile strength (MPa)

4 4
R = 0.784

Flexural strength (MPa)

3.5 3.5
3
3
2.5
2.5
2
2 1.5
1.5 1
1 0.5
10 15 20 25 0
Compressive strength (MPa) 0 10 15 20 25 30
Percentage replacement
4.5
(b) ft = 0.644(fck)0.521 Fig. 16. Flexural strength of sugarcane bagasse ash concrete (Shafana and
Tensile strength (MPa)

4 R = 0.985 Venkatasubramani, 2014).

3.5
Ismail and Jaeel (2014) conducted the exural strength
3
test of giant reed based concrete in accordance with
2.5
American Society for Testing and Materials (2015). They
2 explained that the replacement of giant reed ash (GRA)
1.5 and giant reed bres (GRF) in concrete showed an increas-
1 ing strength up to 7.5% and the strength decreased by 10%
10 15 20 25 30 35 and 12.5% even below the strength of control concrete as
Compressive strength (MPa) shown in Fig. 17. The increase in compressive and tensile
Fig. 15. Correlation between compressive strength and tensile strength of strength can be attributed to presence of organic bindings
bagasse ash concrete (a) M20 grade (Modani and Vyawahare, 2013) and in giant reed bres in acidic or alkali environment, which
(b) M30 grade (Shafana and Venkatasubramani, 2014). decomposed into monosaccharide-hexose and pentose.
This monosaccharide dissolved in water easily and resulted
where f t and f ck are tensile and compressive strength of
in the formation of hydrophilic adsorption layers upon
concrete in MPa.
cement grains (Ismail and Jaeel, 2014). Novoa et al.
Yang et al. (2005) observed the development of tensile
(2004) and Bras et al. (2013) conducted the exural
strength using oyster shell in high strength concrete. The
strength test as per RILEM CPT PCM-8 (1995) standard
28 day tensile strength was higher at a smaller replacement
test method and EN-1015-11 (1999) standard. They
percentage, than the control concrete, but it reduced as
reported the same result, regarding the exural strength
increasing the substitution ratio of oyster shell (Yang
of mortar that it reduces with increase in the percentage
et al., 2005). They also performed a regression analysis to
of cork.
compare the relation between compressive strength and
Fig. 18 shows the regression analysis of GRA and GRF
tensile strength with the substitution of oyster shell, giving
concrete. From the gure, it is observed that GRA concrete
the following relationship.
gives more predictable relation than the GRF concrete in a
f t 0:18  f 0c
3=4
3 particular mix ratio. Flexural strength of GRA concrete
can be predicted from the compressive strength from the
where f c and f t are the compressive and tensile strength of following;
concrete.
At 5%, 10% and 15% replacement of sawdust ash as ne f r 0:68f 0:56
ck R2 0:93 4
aggregate in concrete there was increasing of tensile
Eq. (5) also gives the relation to predict exural strength
strength and above the 20%, replacement displayed a
from its compressive strength with a regression coecient
reduction in strength (Mageswari and Vidivelli, 2009).
R2 = 0.75.
5.3. Flexural strength f r 0:88f 0:47
ck 5

Bagasse ash concrete was cast in beam specimen size
100 mm  100 mm  500 mm and cured in water for
28 days. After 28 days, beams were tested as per IS 516:
1959 (Indian Standard, 1959). The results indicated that
the exural strength increased by 10% replacement and it
reduced with further increase of percentage (Shafana and
Venkatasubramani, 2014). Fig. 16 shows the exural
strength variation of bagasse ash concrete at dierent sub-
stitution ratios and curing period.
where f r and f ck are exural strength and compressive
strength of concrete in MPa.
5.4. Elastic modulus (E-value)
Yang et al. (2010) tested the elastic modulus of concrete
with the substitution of oyster shell over a period of 1 year
as per ASTM C469 (American Society for Testing and
Materials, 2014). The elastic modulus test results are pre-

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16 J.K. Prusty et al. / International Journal of Sustainable Built Environment xxx (2016) xxxxxx

7
7 Days 7 Days 14 Days 14 Days 28 Days 28 Days

Flexural strength (MPa)

6
5
4
3
2
1
0
0 2.5 5 7.5 10 12.5
Percentage of replacement

Fig. 17. Comparison of exural strength between Giant Reed Ash (GRA) and Giant Reed Fibre (GRF) (Ismail and Jaeel, 2014).

6
Flexural strength (MPa)

5.5 GRA GRF

5 fr = 0.68 (fck)0.56
R = 0.93
4.5
4
fr = 0.88 (fck)0.47
3.5 R = 0.75
3
2.5
2
15 20 25 30 35 40 45
Compressive strength (MPa)

Fig. 18. Correlation between exural strength and compressive strength Fig. 20. Relation between compressive strength and ultrasonic pulse
of GRA and GRF concrete at mix 1:1.78:2.23 (Ismail and Jaeel, 2014). velocity in oyster shell concrete (Kuo et al., 2013).

that value obtained from the code (Yang et al., 2005).

4 The elastic modulus of cork modied polymer mortar
SR-0% SR-10% SR-20%
was less than that of conventional mortar, due to viscoelas-
Elastic modulus

3.5
ticity properties of polymers, which are reported by Novoa
3 et al. (2004). They Novoa et al. (2004) also included the
predicted elastic modulus based on Kelvin-Voigt model
2.5 for the rule of mixture,

2 Ecomp Ec V c Em V m 6
14 days 28 days 6 months 1 year
where E refers to elastic modulus and V refers to volume
Curing period
fraction. The indices comp, c and m are relative to nal
Fig. 19. Elastic modulus of oyster shell concrete (Yang et al., 2010). composite, cork and matrix.

sented in Fig. 19. They observed that at 20% replacement 5.5. Ultrasonic pulse velocity (UPV)
the elastic modulus value decreased approximately 10
15% compared to other replacement level. They reasoned, Ultrasonic pulse velocity (UPV) is a form of non-
it might be more due to the lower elastic modulus of oyster destructive testing in which ultrasonic pulsing are used to
shell than the natural ne aggregate. Yang et al. (2005) test the quality of concrete and detect the depths and
measured elastic modulus at 28 days to evaluate the eect widths of crack so as to determine the density variation
of substitution of oyster shell on the elastic modulus of of the concrete (Kuo et al., 2013). Kuo et al. (2013) tested
concrete. They reported that the elastic modulus depended the ultrasonic pulse velocity of concrete with the substitu-
on the type of oyster shell, substitution ratio and use of tion of oyster shell as per ASTM C597 (American Society
admixture. Elastic modulus decreased approximately 10% for Testing and Materials, 2009). They reported that at
by increasing the substitution ratio of 20% of oyster shell. 5% replacement, UPV value was higher than the control
They also compared the experimental value with the value concrete and in all other level of replacement, it was lower
obtained from the relation proposed by ACI code than the control concrete. It can be expected that the lower
(American Concrete Institute, 1997) and CEB-FIP model UPV value may be due to the weakness of CSH gel. The
equation (CEB-FIP, 1993) and the resulting experimental relation between compressive strength and ultrasonic pulse
value was higher even without using the admixture than velocity of oyster shell concrete is presented in Fig. 20.

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 J.K. Prusty et al. / International Journal of Sustainable Built Environment xxx (2016) xxxxxx
From the regression analysis, it can be observed that the
compressive strength of oyster shell concrete can be pre-
dicted using following relationship from its UPV value
with a regression coecient of R2 = 0.87.
f ck 0:06UPV 4:93 7
Iam and Makul (2013) measured the UPV value of self-
compacting concrete after aging for 1, 7, 28 and 91 days in
accordance with ASTM C597 (American Society for
Testing and Materials, 2009) and reported its variation
was from 0.7 km/s to 4.4 km/s. Highest UPV value was
achieved in control concrete and lowest value was at
100% replacement of rice husk ash. They also noticed that
the UPV value increased by an addition of rice husk ash,
which was likely due to micro lling and pozzolanic eect
on property of concrete pore structures. They found good
relation between compressive strength and ultrasonic pulse
velocity of self-compacting concrete with rice husk ash
mixture having R2 = 0.9403 which is shown in Fig. 21.
5.6. Shrinkage and creep
Yang et al. (2010) conducted a series of tests to evaluate
the behaviour of drying shrinkage of concrete using oyster
shell as ne aggregate. Experimental values were compared
with the value obtained from several codes (ACI American
Concrete Institute, 1997; CEB-FIP, 1993), and BP model
equations (Bazant and Wittmann, 1982) and showed a
good agreement between these two values. The increase
in drying shrinkage based on regression analysis was 7%
and 28% in the substitution ratio of 10% and 20%, respec-
tively, compared with the control concrete. They analysed
that the shrinkage increased due to the lower rigidity of
oyster shell and eect of size of ne powder (Yang et al.,
2010). Kuo et al. (2013) reported that the shrinkage of
specimen increased if the natural aggregate of higher
Youngs modulus was replaced by waste oyster shell as ne
aggregate having a lower Youngs modulus, which meant
that larger replacement percentage resulted in greater
shrinkage.
Fig. 21. Relation between compressive strength and ultrasonic pulse
velocity of self-compacting concrete made with replacement of RHA (Iam
and Makul, 2013).
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17
Yang et al. (2010) conducted a series creep test to know
the eect of creep on oyster shell concrete and reported that
at 0% replacement, the creep was larger than that at 10%
replacement even at an early age.
6. Durability
Durability is the important characteristics of hardened
concrete to check when it contains any replacement mate-
rials of cement or aggregate. Many researchers conducted
the durability test such as freezing and thawing, carbona-
tion, chemical attack, permeability and water absorption,
etc. of concrete having agricultural waste as a ne aggre-
gate replacement.
6.1. Freezing and thawing
Yang et al. (2010) studied the freezing and thawing test
of oyster shell-mortar. Freezing and thawing tests were per-
formed according to ASTM C666 (American Society for
Testing and Materials, 2015). According to their study,
the variance rates of the dynamic modulus of elasticity
and weight of the concrete substituted by oyster shell
showed smaller and more satisfactory values respectively
than those of control concrete. They reported that oyster
shell shows improved performance of freezing and thawing
resistance of concrete, which is because the ne grain of
oyster shell lls the entrapped air voids scattered in con-
crete specimen (Yang et al., 2010).
6.2. Chemical attack
Yang et al. (2010) did the chemical attack experiment on
concrete with the substitution of oyster shell by depositing
the concrete specimens in sulphuric acid and hydrochloric
acid. After a certain age, they tested the specimen and
reported that the attack of concrete increases gradually
with age. The attack of sulphuric acid was continued as
age increased. They also found that there is no eect of
the substitution ratio of oyster shell on weight loss of con-
crete specimen (Yang et al., 2010). Kuo et al. (2013)
observed the same result of sulphate attack on oyster shell
concrete. Weight loss of concrete specimen increased from
1.17% to 4.822%, according to the increasing of age period.
There is some eect of the substitution ratio of oyster shell.
Ismail and Jaeel (2014) observed the eect of alkali on
concrete containing giant reed ash and giant reed bres.
They observed that modied concrete with giant reed bres
could be aected by alkali faster than the control concrete
since they aected the lignin complex molecules causing
bre fracture.
Almeida et al. (2015) applied colorimetric treatment to
the mortar specimens for analysis of chloride penetrations.
Fig. 22 shows the average chloride penetration values in
millimetres obtained at dierent immersion times in a
3.5% NaCl solution. The M30 (30% substitution of bagasse
ash) and M50 (50% substitution of bagasse ash) samples
18 J.K. Prusty et al. / International Journal of Sustainable Built Environment xxx (2016) xxxxxx
14
RM M 30 M50
Chloride penetration (mm)
12
10
8 bagasse ash. Fig. 23 shows the colorimetric treatment of
6 mortar for carbonation depth analysis.
4
2
0 matrix provided by bagasse ash neness. The reduction
30 60
Imersion period (days)
Fig. 22. Average chloride penetration values at dierent ages for the
mortar samples (Almeida et al., 2015).
showed signicantly dierent chloride penetration values in
the rst month of conditioning but showed same magni-
tude at later stage. The RM (Referenced Mortar) specimen
showed less resistance to chloride penetrations because it
showed the highest average chloride penetration values at
all of the studied ages. Thus, the addition of bagasse ash
increased the chloride penetration resistance of mortar.
6.3. Carbonation
Yang et al. (2010) conducted carbonation test to evalu-
ate the eect of substitution ratio of oyster shell on carbon-
ation characteristics of concrete. These tests were
performed in a chamber under the temperature of 30
3 C, relative humidity of 60 5%, and 10% carbon
dioxide. After splitting, a 1% of phenolphthalein alcohol
liquid was sprayed on the fractured specimen surface and
the thickness of the discoloured portion was measured.
As a result, it has been observed that the carbonation depth
increased with increasing carbonation age. Almeida et al.
(2015) measured the carbonation depth of sugarcane
bagasse ash mortar (at 0%, 30%, and 50% substitution
ratio) using colorimetric treatment. They reported that, ini-
tially the carbonation depth magnitude was similar for
Fig. 23. Mortar specimen after colorimetric treatment at 365 days of
carbonation period containing 50% replacement bagasse ash (Almeida
et al., 2015).
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each replacement level. However, at 365 days carbonation
period, carbonation depth was signicantly increased for
mortar containing 50% replacement of bagasse ash than
the controlled mortar and mortar containing 30% of
Almeida et al. (2015) also mentioned that the carbona-
tion depth could be decreased by reducing the water
cement ratio and by the packing eect of cementitious
90 of water cement ratio and incorporation of ner materials
lead to a denser and stronger mortar matrix.
6.4. Permeability
Yang et al. (2010) determined the permeability ratio of
mortar in accordance with ASTM C109 (American
Society for Testing and Materials, 2016) and compared
with the substitution ratio of oyster shell. The permeability
ratio of mortar having 10% and 20% of oyster shell was
approximately 80% less than that of standard mortar. They
also explained that the improvement of permeability was
due to the eect of small particle size, more akiness and
elongation of oyster shell (Yang et al., 2010). Panesar
and Shindman (2012) tested the rapid chloride permeability
test on cement-cork mortar by an increasing percentage of
cork, taking dierent size of the cork, cork gradation and
weathered cork. The procedure employed was ASTM
C1202 (American Society for Testing and Materials,
2012). They observed that cork content had more eect
on the permeability of mortar than the size and weathered
cork (Panesar and Shindman, 2012). The water vapour per-
meability test of cement-cork mortar and lime-cork mortar
was performed according to European norm EN1015-19
(1988), EN 1015-19 (1999) and Bras et al. (2014). It has
been observed that there was no eect of cork on changes
of permeability. Cement based mortars were less permeable
to water vapour than lime based mortar (Bras et al., 2014).
But according to Moreira et al. (2014), addition of
expanded cork granulates in the mix induced greater water
vapour permeability.
6.5. Water absorption test
Water absorption and porosity are important indica-
tors of durability of hardened concrete and reduction
of these values can greatly aect the long-term perfor-
mance and serviceability of concrete (Ismail and Jaeel,
2014). The water absorption test was carried out to
determine the sorptivity coecient of a concrete speci-
men. It is observed that this coecient increases with
increase in percentage of sugarcane bagasse ash and
decreases with an increase in compressive strength
(Modani and Vyawahare, 2013). Ismail and Jaeel
(2014) used 100 mm cubes for water absorption test
and tested in accordance to BS 1881-122 (British
Standard Institute, 1983). They explained that concrete
 J.K. Prusty et al. / International Journal of Sustainable Built Environment xxx (2016) xxxxxx 19

Fig. 24. Cyclic test (a) Uniaxial compression (b) Diagonal compression (c) Rupture in uniaxial compression (d) Rupture in diagonal compression
(Carvalho et al., 2013).

containing giant reed bres attained higher percentage of
water absorption as compared to giant reed ash concrete
and control concrete. It is also observed that water
absorption percentage increased as increasing the per-
centage of replacement of giant reed ash in concrete
mixes. Kuo et al. Kuo et al. (2013) reported that the
absorption rate of replacing waste oyster shell sand is
increased by 1.11.6% than the control concrete since
waste oyster shell sand has a higher porosity and
absorption rate.
7. Thermal conductivity
Panesar and Shindman (2012) tested the thermal resis-
tance and thermal conductivity of concrete containing cork
and expanded polystyrene (EPS) based on the procedure
described in American Society for Testing and Materials
(2010). They reported that the mixture containing 10%
and 20% of cork reduced the thermal conductivity by
approximately 16% and 30% respectively. They also
explained a relation that thermal conductivity increased
as the density increased. Thermal conductivity not only
controlled by the density, but also inuenced by the size,
gradation and percentage of replacement of cork
(Panesar and Shindman, 2012). Bras et al. (2014) observed
that, for mortars with a high substitution ratio of cork
granulates lead to a linear decrease of thermal conductivity
as well as density. In another study, Bras et al. (2013)
reported the same result that mortar containing cork gran-
ulates shows linear decreasing thermal conductivity and
that the decrease was higher than the mortar containing
expanded polystyrene (EPS). Moreira et al. (2014) added
dierent substitution ratio of expanded cork granulates
with cement mortar. They noticed the declining thermal
conductivity coecient like other researchers and reported
that thermal conductivity decreased due to lower cement
content in mortar mixes. The thermal conductivity of pro-
ducing tobacco waste materials was in the range of 0.194
0.220, which indicated that it could be used as a coating
and dividing materials in concrete (Ozturk and Bayrakl,
2005).
8. Cyclic behaviour
Carvalho et al. (2013) tested the cyclic behaviour of a
composite material made from a mortar incorporated with
granulated cork. Specimens with 0%, 15% and 30% of cork
addition, in volume mix, were prepared and tested. Cyclic
uniaxial and diagonal compression tests were carried out
to characterize the cyclic behaviour of the composite mate-
rials. It has been observed that, for whole set of mortar
study, there is a tendency for improvement of performance
when the cork granulates are added, either uniaxial or diag-
onal compression test. Fig. 24 shows the cyclic test of mor-
tar incorporated with granulated cork.
They also concluded the improvement behaviour of
energy dissipation capacity and conformed that inclusion
of cork granulates in controlled volume fractions in con-
struction mortar was benecial for the seismic protection
of building (Carvalho et al., 2013).

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20 J.K. Prusty et al. / International Journal of Sustainable Built Environment xxx (2016) xxxxxx
9. Future recommendation
Based on the review done on concrete made with agri-
cultural waste as partial replacement of ne aggregate,
the following future studies can be recommended.
1. Limited research work has been reported on utilization
of agro-waste as ne aggregate in concrete/mortar. Thus
a complete study of engineering properties on every
agro-waste based concrete could be conducted and com-
pared with the conventional concrete.
2. Compressive strength is the only hardened property
which conducted on every mentioned agro-waste based
concrete. However, other mechanical properties such
as tensile and exural strength, elastic modulus, UPV
could be studied on all agro-waste based concrete and
relate with conventional concrete.
3. Durability is an important property to observe before
establishing any kind of concrete for practical applica-
tion. There are limited durability studies reported on
agro-waste based concrete. Therefore a brief study on
durability properties of every type of agro-waste con-
crete can be done.
4. It has been seen that only rice husk ash was used as ne
aggregate in self-compacting concrete. Thus other agro-
wastes could be used as partial replacement of ne
aggregate in self-compacting concrete and observed
their eect on properties of SCC.
5. Further research work is required regarding these agro-
wastes as a ne aggregate replacement in concrete to
conrm the strength variation and thermal property.
10. Conclusion
Literature and experimental studies on ne aggregate
replacement by agro-waste in concrete, self-compacting
concrete and mortar have been reviewed. Following impor-
tant conclusions have been drawn from these studies:
1. Dierent workability tests of agro-waste based con-
crete and mortar are reviewed. It has been concluded
that slump value of agro-waste concrete containing
bagasse ash, groundnut shell, oyster shell, giant reed
ash, giant reed bres and rice husk ash decreased as
the percentage of replacement increased. However,
in case of tobacco waste concrete, slump value
increased as the replacement increased. Compacting
factor, penetration, and ball drop increased up to
5% replacement of groundnut shell and oyster shell
respectively. In case of owability and V-funnel test,
cork and rice husk managed improved workability up
to 20% of replacement.
2. It has been observed that, in case of agro-waste con-
crete containing bagasse ash, sawdust ash and oyster
shell, minimum strength of concrete was achieved by
addition of optimal 20% of replacement but with fur-
Please cite this article in press as: Prusty, J.K. et al. Concrete using agro-waste as ne aggregate for sustainable built environment A review. Inter-
national Journal of Sustainable Built Environment (2016), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ijsbe.2016.06.003
ther increase, strength was decreased. However, the
maximum compressive strength of concrete contain-
ing groundnut shell and giant reed (both GRA and
GRF) was achieved at 5% and 7.5% respectively.
Cork and rice husk ash also showed good strength
in mortar and self-compacting concrete as ne aggre-
gate replacement.
3. It has been observed that concrete containing saw-
dust ash gave maximum tensile strength up to 15%
of replacement in comparison to bagasse ash and oys-
ter shell. The regression analysis of bagasse ash con-
crete gives a close prediction of tensile strength from
its compressive strength. Giant reed ash concrete
shows its maximum exural strength at 7.5% replace-
ment. GRA concrete gives more predictable exural
strength than the GRF concrete and bagasse ash
concrete.
4. Elastic modulus of agro-waste based concrete
depends on types of material used, substitution ratio
and use of admixture. The experimental elastic mod-
ulus of oyster shell concrete was higher than that of
the value obtained from ACI code. The elastic mod-
ulus of cork modied polymer mortar was less than
that of conventional mortar, due to viscoelasticity
properties of polymers.
5. Strong co-relation between compressive strength and
ultrasonic pulse velocity of oyster shell based con-
crete has been observed. Rice husk ash based self-
compacting concrete showed better relation than oys-
ter shell based concrete which was expected due to
micro lling and pozzolanic eect on property of con-
crete pore structures.
6. Groundnut shell as a ne aggregate replacement can-
not be used in water sensitive structures and water-
logged areas since the moisture aects the weight
and strength.
7. A complete review was done on durability proper-
ties of agro-waste concrete and agro-waste mor-
tars. It has been observed that chemical attack
on agro-waste concrete increased with age. Addi-
tion of bagasse ash as ne aggregate in mortar
increased the resistance of chloride penetration.
Carbonation depth was increased by increasing
the substitution of agro-waste in concrete and
mortar, but it can be decreased by reducing the
water cement ratio.
8. The percentage of cork used as a sand replacement
has a signicant eect on mechanical strength,
microstructure and thermal resistance of cork cement
composites. It has been observed that, the size of the
cork plays an important role in strength achievement.
Lower size of the cork gives more strength to
concrete.
9. All properties of tobacco waste concrete satised the
property of heat insulation materials, which can be
recommended for use as a coating and separation
materials in construction.
 J.K. Prusty et al. / International Journal of Sustainable Built Environment xxx (2016) xxxxxx
10. The cyclic behaviour of cork-based mortar was
observed. It has been seen that for the whole mortar
study, there is an improvement of performances of
specimen due to the inclusion of cork, which is bene-
cial for seismic protection of building.
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