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TP
684 Master in Engineering
P3 (Civil)
L366 2014
2014
UNIVERSITI MALAYSIA SARAWAK
Grade: _ _ _ __
Student's
Declaration:
I JEFFREY LAU YONG LIAN. 14030081. FACULTY OF ENGINEERING hereby declare that
this research project entitled "EFFECT OF PALM OIL FUEL ASH (POFA) FINENESS ON THE
MECHANICAL PROPERTIES OF CONCRETE" is the result of my own research project work
exclude for quotations and citations which have been duly acknowledged. Besides that, I also declare
that it has not been previously or concurrently submitted for any other degree or award at Universiti
Malaysia Sarawak or other institutions.
Supervisor's
Declaration:
I DR. DELSYE TEO CHING LEE) hereby certifies that the work entitled "EFFECT OF PALM
OIL FUEL ASH (PO FA) FINENESS ON THE MECHANICAL PROPERTIES OF CONCRETE" was
prepared by the above named student, and was submitted to the "FACULTY" as a partial
fulfillment for the conferment of MASTER OF CIVIL ENGINEERING (CIVIL ENGINEERING> and
the aforementioned work, to the best of my knowledge, is the said student's work.
ii
I declare that Projectfl'hesis is classified as (Please tick (--./:
D CONFIDENTIAL (Contains confidential information under the Official Secret Act 1972)*
D RESTRICTED (Contains restricted information as specified by the organisation where
research was done)*
QJ OPEN ACCESS
Validation of Project/Thesis
I therefore duly affirmed with free consent and willingness declare that this said Projectfl'hesis shall
be placed officially in the Centre for Academic Information Services with the abiding interest and
rights as follows:
This Project/Thesis is the sole legal property of Universiti Malaysia Sarawak (UNIMAS).
The Centre for Academic Information Services has the lawful right to make copies for the
purpose of academic and research only and not for other purpose.
The Centre for Academic Information Services has the lawful right to digitalise the
content for the Local Content Database.
The_Centre for Academic Information Services has the lawful right to make copies of the
Projectfl'hesis for academic exchange between Higher Learning Institute.
No dispute or any claim shall arise from the student itself neither third party on this
Project/Thesis once it becomes the sole property of UNIMAS.
This Project/Thesis or any material, data and information related to it shall not be
distributed, published or disclosed to any party by the student except with UNIMAS
permission.
ckt.~ rp~
Student signature _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _~~ Supervisor signature: _ _ _ _ _ __
(28 AUG 2014) (28 AUG 2014)
Current Address:
I ,[The instrument is duly prepared by The Centre for Academic Information Services]
iii
First of all, I would like to thank my supervisor, Dr. Delsye Teo Ching Lee for guiding and
assisting me throughout the entire research proj ect. Besides that, I would also like to thank
everyone who had contributed in conducting the various laboratory experimental tests. In
addition, I would also like to express my thanks to Serian Palm Oil Mill Sdn. Bhd for
providing the palm oil fuel ash (PO FA) resources for my research project. Moreover, I would
iv
ABSTRACT
(palm oil industry in Malaysia is well known as the most important agricultural industry.
Million tonnes of palm oil fuel ash (POF A) is being generated every year without any
profitable return. POF A has the potential to be used as recycle materials due to their
pozzolanic behaviour. Thus, this research project presents the effect of palm oil fuel ash
(POFA) on the mechanical properties of concrete In this research project, POF A was used as
POFA contains siliceous composition which produces a stronger and denser concrete. Three
different fineness of POFA (passing through 38j.Ull, 63j.Ull and 75j.Ull) were used to replace
ordinary portland cement at 15% by weight of cement throughout this research project. In the
mix proportion, a mix design ratio of 1: 1.15:2.95 (Cement: Fine Aggregate: Coarse Aggregate)
in term of weight of the components was constant for all mixtures. In this research project,
three laboratory experimentai tests were carried out namely slump test, compressive strength
test and splitting tensile strength test. The strength of POFA concrete are tested and
POFA concrete were studied and compared with control specimen as well. The study revealed
that POFA fmeness had significant effect on the workability and strength of concrete. The test
results indicated th~, higher slump with higher fineness than those with lower fineness.
Compressive strength and splitting tensile strength was found to increase with the increase of
POFA fineness. Consequently, it was found that POFA concrete produces lower strength than
OPC concrete.
v
ABSTRAK
Industri minyak sawit di Malaysia terkenal sebagai industri pertanian yang paling penting.
Juta tan abu bahan api kelapa sawit (POF A) sedang dijana setiap tahun tanpa apa-apa
pulangan yang menguntungkan. POF A mempunyai potensi untuk digunakan sebagai bahan
kitar semula kerana tingkah laku pozzolanic mereka. Oleh itu, projek penyelidikan ini
memberikan kesan abu bahan api kelapa sawit (POF A) terhadap sifat mekanikal konkrit.
Dalam projek kajian ini, POFA telah digunakan sebagai bahan penyimenan tambahan untuk
menggantikan simen dalam konkrit. Ini kerana POFA mengandungi komposisi bersilika yang
menghasilkan konkrit yang lebih kukuh dan lebih padat. Tiga kehalusan POFA yang
berlainan (melalui 38 ,~m, 63!lfl1 dan 75 1~m) telah digunakan untuk menggantikan simen
portland biasa pada 15% mengikut berat simen sepanjang projek penyelidikan ini. Dalam
nisbah campuran, nisbah reka bentuk campuran 1: 1.15: 2.95 (Cement: Agregat Halus:
Agregat Kasar) dari segi berat komponen adalah malar bagi semua campuran. Dalam projek
penyelidikan ini, tiga ujian ujikaji makmal yang telah dijalankan iaitu ujian kemerosotan,
ujian kekuatan mampatan dan membelah ujian kekuatan tegangan. Kekuatan konkrit POFA
diuji dan ditentukan pada 3, 7 dan 28 hari. Kebolehkerjaan dari segi kemerosotan kekuatan
dan sifat-sifat konkrit POF A telah dikaji dan dibandingkan dengan spesimen kawalan juga.
Kajian ini mendedahkan bahawa POF A kehalusan mempunyai kesan yang besar ke atas
.'
kebolehkerjaan dan kekuatan konkrit. Keputusan ujian menunjukkan kemerosotan yang lebih
tinggi dengan kehalusan yang lebih tinggi daripada yang dengan kehalusan yang lebih rendah.
peningkatan kehalusan POFA. Oleh itu, didapati bahawa POF A konkrit menghasilkan
vi
Pusat Khidmat MakJumat Akademj).
Ul'I1VERSITI MALAYSIA SARAW
TABLE OF CONTENTS
DECLARA.TION......... II II I I . II II II II II II II II II I I . II II II II II II II II II II II U
ACKl"lOWLEDGEMENT,,I II II II II II II II II II II II II II II II II II II II II II I I . II II II II II iv
ABSTRA.CT................................ II II II II II II II II II II II II II II II II II II II II II II II II II II II II II II II II II II II II II II II II II II V
LIST OF TABLES. II II II II II II II II II II II II II II II II II II II II II II II II II II II II II II II II II II II II II II II II II II II II II II II II II II II II II II II II II II II II II II II II II II II II II II II II II II II II II II II X
CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION
1.1 Introduction.................................................................................. 1
2.1 Introdu~tion ............... .. ........ ...........,' .......... ... .. ................ .. .... ... 6
vii
2.3.4 Rice Husk ash .............................................................. 9
CHAPTER 3 METHODOLOGY
'"
3.2 Material Properties Tests ................... .'......................................... 20
viii
3.3.4 Coarse Aggregate ............................................................ 24
.'
ix
LIST OF TABLES
Table 2.1: Physical properties ofunground and ground POFA (Safiuddin et aI., 2011) ....... 10
Table 2.2: Chemical composition ofOPC and PO FA (Source: Awal, 1997; Tangchirapat,
Table 2.3: Effect of POF A on the workability of concrete (Eldagal, 2008; Sata et aI., 2007;
Tay,1990)................. ................................................................................ 15
Table 3.3: Physical properties of fine aggregate ........ ...... ......... ..... ............. . ... .... ... 23
Table 3.4: Physical properties of coarse aggregate .......... ........ .......................... .. ..... 24
Table 4.1: Slump ... ......... ... . .. ........................................... ...... ........ . . .. . . . ........ 29
Table 4.2: Compressive strength for 3, 7 and 28 days ........ .................... . ................. 31
Table 4.3: Splitting tensile strength for 3, 7 and 28 days ........ ...... ............................ 35
x
LIST OF FIGURES
Figure 2.4: Particle size distribution ofunground and ground POFA and OPC (Sata et aI.,
Figure 2.5: Effect ofunground POFA on the compressive strength of concrete at 28 days (Tay,
1990)... . ...... .. ........ . ............. .... .. ................. ... ................ . . .. ................ ..... 17
Figure 2.6: Effect of ground POF A on the compressive strength at different test ages
Figure 2.7: Effect of ground POFA on the splitting tensile strength of concrete (Sata et aI.,
2007)..................................... .. .............................................................. 18
Figure 3.2: Sieved POFA ..... .... ............... .. ........ . ................... . ........................ 22
Figure 3.3: Sieve analysis for sand ......................... .. ... .................. .. .............. . . 24
Figure 3.4: Sieve analysis for coarse aggregate ............................ . .......... .... .. ...... . 25
Figure 4.1: The Slump ..... . ...... ,... . .......... .. . .. . .. ................. .... ................. .. ...... 30
LIST OF APPENDICES
xii
CHAPTER 1
INTRODUCTION
1.1. Introduction
Concrete is usually a composite material that is used in civil engineering construction work. It
is typically a mixture of cement, water, aggregate and also other admixtures. Concrete is
strong in compression because the aggregate has the ability to carry the compression load;
Cement consists of adhesive and cohesive properties which enable it to bond mineral
fragments into a solid mass. Cement contains silicates and aluminates of lime which are made
from blended and ground limestone and clay. According to Dobrowolski (1998), portland
cement is the most commonly used hydraulic ~ement for making concrete around the world. It
is considered as the most significant component of hydraulic cement which hardens due to
hydration, a chemical reaction between cement powder and water. In concrete design and
quality control, strength is the property usually specified. The water-cementitious materials
ratio, the extent of hydration, the curing and environmental conditions are the main factors
that influence the strength of concrete. The ultimate compressive strength and rate of strength
development of concrete are also greatly dependent on the chemical and physical properties of
the cement.
production of cement leads to increase the concern of global warming as CO2 emission is
cementing material involved in concrete production has been conducted in recent years.
Nowadays, the use of various supplementary cementing materials such as Fly Ash, Blast
Furnace Slag, Silica Fume, Rice husk Ash and other fiber and pozzolanic material are gaining
various supplementary cementing materials is also a common practice since they are
significantly reducing the cement content and improve the ultimate strength of the concrete.
In this study, the study about the use of Palm Oil Fuel Ash (POF A) as a supplementary
cementing material in concrete production is carried out. The influence of POFA and its
oil industry is considered as the most important agro industries. POF A is a by-product which
is generated from the combustion of palm oil plant residues. In this study, POF A is used as a
properties. Pozzolan is defined as a siliceous or siliceous and aluminous material where the
particles react with calcium hydroxide from the cement to produce cementitious properties.
The utilization of pozzolanic material in concrete would reduce the negative environmental
The presence of palm oil wastes has created a major disposal problem due to a large amount
of solid waste materials is produced such as palm fiber, nutshells and empty fruit bunches
from palm oil industry which is burnt at temperatures of about 800-1000 C as fuels to
provide steam for electricity generation in palm oil mills. After the burning process, an ash
by-product are obtained, which is about 5% by weight of the residues known as palm oil fuel
ash (pOFA). It has been reported that around 4 million tons/years of POFA are produced in
Malaysia only (Zarina, 2012). While the quantity of POFA is rising annually, its utilization is
limited and basically disposed of as a waste in landfills without any profitable return. It can
also affect environmental problems such as health hazards and financial loss.
There are several significances in this research project. Firstly, PDFA is incorporated as
supplementary cementing material in the concrete mix as to promote the use of agricultural
waste and create a more sustainable environment besides its own ability to improve strength
development of concrete. Next, it is also important that to obtain a mix proportion to produce
concrete incorporated with PDF A and studies the mechanical properties of concrete in term of
The aim of this research project is to conduct an experimental testing program to determine
the effects of PDF A fineness on the mechanical properties of concrete. The objectives of the
1. To obtain a mix proportion containing different PDF A fineness which can achieve a
II. To study the mechanical properties of concr~te by using POFA with 3 different
The study focuses on the effect of PDF A fineness on the mechanical properties of concrete.
The study only limited to test for three types of PDF A fineness which are 381!m, 631!ffi and
75JlM with 15% PDFA replacement. Three laboratories experimental tests is carried out,
namely slump test, compressive strength test and splitting tensile strength test. The slump test
is carried out to detennine the workability of fresh concrete. The concrete sample is cured in
the water and tested for 3 days, 7 days and 28 days strength. Consequently, two mechanical
properties of concrete such as compressive strength and splitting tensile strength will be tested
in this study.
This report contains five chapters which are introduction, literature review, methodology,
Chapter I discuss the general background of the research, problem statement, scope of work,
Chapter 2 discuss the admixture which is also one of the components of concrete mix. Besides
that, a general background for four types of pozzolanic materials such as fly ash, blast furnace
slag, silica fume and rice husk ash will be discussed in this chapter. In addition, the properties
of PDFA such as physical and chemical composition will also be discussed in this chapter.
Moreover, a previous study about the effect of PDF A on the mechanical properties of
concrete will be studied. Lastly, a previous research about the effect of fineness on properties
Chapter 3 explain various laboratory tests will be carried out in this chapter. In this chapter,
three laboratory experiments will be conducted such as slump test, compressive strength test
and splitting tensile strength test. In addition, experiment setups will be stated in this chapter.
Chapter 4 generally presents and discusses about the result of each laboratory tests that
Chapter 5 conclude the whole study has been conducted. A conclusion has been drawn with
relevant objectives stated based on the result achieved from this study. Besides that, there are
CHAPTER 2
LITERATURE REVIEW
2.1 Introduction
During recent decades, there are many researchers have been carried out for the use of
admixture in concrete mixture such as fly ash, blast-furnace slag, silica fume, rice husk ash
and also palm oil fuel ash. Besides that, the properties of POF A are also briefly discussed and
previous study about the effects of POF A on the mechanical properties of concrete are also
reviewed. Lastly, previous study about the effects of fineness on the properties of concrete are
also reviewed.
2.2 Admixture
widely in chemical composition, from surfactants and soluble salts to polymers and insoluble
minerals. The properties of concrete such as workability, strength, and durability can be
improved by adding admixtures to concrete batch (Monte rio & Mehta, 2006). Besides that,
the use of admixture in concrete mixtures may also increase or decrease the cost of concrete
by lowering the required cement content, changing the volume of the concrete mixture, or
reducing the cost of concrete placing and finishing. Thus, admixture plays an important role
admixture (fly ash, silica fume and others) and chemical admixture (air-entering agents,
in this study and used as supplementary cementitious material for producing concrete.
6
Mineral admixtures are categorised into 2 classifications which are natural materials and by
product materials. Some mineral admixtures can be pozzolanic, cementitious, and however
others are both cementitious and pozzolanic (Monterio & Mehta, 2006). Natural materials are
defined as a material that has been treated for the only purpose of making a pozzolan.
Generally, the process involves crushing, grinding, and size separation; occasionally it may
also include thermal activation. On the other hand, by-product materials are defined as a
material that is not the primary products which produced from industry. It mayor may not
However, by-product materials are more highlighted in this study. Consequently, the physiGal
and chemical and mineralogical properties of palm oil fuel ash (PDF A) will be further
discussed in this study. Besides that, effect of PDFA on the mechanical properties of concrete
A variety of by-product materials such as fly ash, blast-furnace slag, silica fume, rice husk ash
and others have been commonly used as pozzolanic materials in concrete. The utilization of
pozzolanic material not only enhances the properties of concrete, but also protects the
environment.
According to Day (2006), fly ash is also known as pulverized fuel ash which is produced from
the combustion of coal in thermal power plants. During combustion, the mineral impurities
such as clays, quartz and feldspar melt in suspension at the high temperature and float out
with the flue gas stream. As the fused material rises, it is transported to low temperature zones
allow it cools and then it solidifies as spherical particles of glass which are called fly ash. This
fly ash is collected from the flue gas stream by mechanical separators, electrostatic
precipitation or bag filters (Nawy, 2008). Fly ash can be categorised into two different types
which are Class C and Class F (ASTM C 618-78). Class C ash is consists of high-calcium fly
ashes with carbon content less than 2 %, while Class F ash contains low-calcium fly ashes
with carbon content less than 5% but sometimes as high as 10%. Class C ash is usually
obtained from burning sub-bituminous or lignite coals; whereas, Class F ashes are obtained
from burning bituminous or anthracite coals. The chemical and physical properties of the ash
have significant impact on the performance properties between Class F and C ashes. The
physical properties of fly ashes are depending to the source. Fly ash is a fine-grained material
which contains spherical, glassy particles. The particles can be irregular or angular shapes and
its size is depending on the sources. The particles of fly ash may be finer or coarser than
Portland cement particles. On the other hand, the mineralogical properties of fly ash are
significant influenced by both the type and source of fly ash. Fly ash contains noncrystalline
particles or glass and a small quantity of crystalline material as result from the rapid cooling
Blast-furnace slag is a by-product of the production of iron (Nawy, 2008). When it is quickly
cool down with water to glassy state and finely ground, thus the property of latent
hydraulicity will be developed (Nawy, 2008). Nowadays, the use of blast-furnace slag as an
admixture in concrete is well established. In the early 1970s, glassy slag was produced by
using pelletizing process which uses much less water than granulation methods. Firstly, a
treatment with water sprays is used to expand the molten slag and then passed over a rotating
8
fInned drum. Lastly, the semi molten material is cooled and pelletized by throwing them into
the air.
Silica fume is a byproduct of the production of metallic silicon or ferrosilicon alloys which is
produced by electric arc furnaces (Nawy, 2008). The two main components such as the types
of alloy fonned and the composition of quartz and coal are commonly used in the electric arc
furnaces which are significantly influence the chemical composition of silica fume. The
majority ofpublished data indicates that the utilization of silica fume in concrete must contain
Rice husk ash is a by-product of the agricultural industry which is produced from burning a
mixture of rice husk and eucalyptus bark by fluidized bed combustion process in a biomass
power plant. It consists of high amount of Si02 . Silica content in the ash increases with higher
the burning temperature. Many researches described that rice husk ash consists of high
reactivity and pozzolanic property after burning process at controlled temperature. Chemical
composition of rice husk ash is greatly influenced by the temperature during burning
processes.
According to AbdullaH et al. (2006), the burning temperature condition is one of factors that
9
Wlground and ground POF A used in various studies are shown in Table 2.1. These all
Table 2.1: Physical properties of unground and ground POFA (Safiuddin et al., 2011)
(% mass)
(m2/kg)
expansion (mm)
1.4.1 Color
UngroWld POFA is usually in light grey color as results from the unburnt carbon content left
at relatively low burning temperature. The content of unburnt carbon becomes very low when
the burning temperature is high. Besides that, unground POF A can also be whitish color in the
absence of unburnt carbon (Abdullah et al 2006). On the other hand, ground POFA is dark
grey color.
10
1.4.1 Specific Gravity
The specific gravity of unground POFA is normally varies in the range of 1.78-1.97. From
Table 2.1 above, it can be seen that the specific gravity of unground POF A is about 40%
lower than the specific gravity of ope (Tay, 1990). However, the specific gravity of POF A is
increased and it is about in the range of 2.22-2.78 after the grinding process (Sata et al., 2004;
Tangchirapat et al., 2009). It is because the particle size of POF A is reduced and then the
The particle shape and size of unground POF A is different as compare to ground POF A. It
was found that the particle shape and size are mostly large, spherical and porous as shown in
Figure 2.2. In contrast, ground POF A is quite similar to Portland cement which crushed
particle is usually in irregular and angular shape as shown in Figure 2.1 & 2.3. ( Chindaprasirt
et al., 2007) The particle size of unground POFA is larger than OPC; however, the particle
size of ground POF A is smaller than OPe. The typical particle size distributions of unground
and ground POF A and ope are shown in Figure 2.4. The median particle size of unground
POFA is about 54.3)lm -183)lm which is larger than ope which is in the range of I011m -20
1Jlll. However, the particle size of POFA is decreased to 7.2)lffi -lO.1)lm after grinding
11
Figure 2.1: OPC (Chindaprasirt et ai., 2007) Figure 2.2: Unground POFA (Jaturapitakkul
et ai., 2007)
100 r.=;::=:I!II::::~~iITin"""TI-1M!'''-7I1
1 ,; rriT'iT:1
. . Ground POFA JI'!:l jill
90 ... ope mill J II
80 . . U"O'OUnd POFA t++tt+-l~I11H
III IIT~+IIiI--+++IH
70 ~~t+~~UU~~~
I IIIV -J~~U
oo ~~U~~~Hm+M~~~I~~~
! 50 +-+tttlitlt-+-I!i+Itflt-+f+T"MIlH-i'++IHIt-;I!+tt+Ilt-i~
~ 40 +-r-l#li!M-.;..=-+W,II--l-+4R-++I
I N+-i1
JlIIlt r-H+fllf-++I......
~ ~~~I~~~~~J~Ir+~
2o ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I I
10 ~~~~.~~A~~~_I_I~~~
o 1 w
001 01 10 ,00 1000 10000
Figure 2.4: Particle size distribution of un ground and ground POFA and OPC (Sata et ai.,
2004)
12