BAOBAB (ADANSONIA DIGITATA L.

) FRUIT PEEL ADDITIVE FOR HOLLOW

BLOCKS (BHB)

A Research Proposal
Presented to the
Faculty of CNHS – Senior High School

Briones, Rolan E.
Morite, Michael Paul D.
Reyes, John David A.
ACADEMIC – STEM

GRADE 11 – APO

March 2017
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TABLE OF CONTENTS

Page

Title Page i

Table of contents ii

List of Tables and Figures iii

Chapters

1. INTRODUCTION 1

Background of the study 1-2

Objectives of the Study 2

Research Questions 2-3

Significance of the Study 3-4

Scope and Limitation of the Study 4

2. REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE AND STUDIES 5

Related Literature 5-6

Hollow blocks 5

Baobab (Andansonia digitata L.) 6

Related Studies
6-7

Definition of Terms 7

3. METHODOLOGY 8

Project Development 8

Research Procedure 8-9

11

Creation of Molder and Baobab Hollow Block 9-10

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References 11-12

LIST OF TABLES AND FIGURES

Figure Page

1 Flow diagram of the study 8

2 Flow Chart for hollow block molder 9
3 Diagram of the Creation of Baobab Hollow Block 10
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Chapter 1

INTRODUCTION

Background of the Study

One of the basic needs of a human being is shelter. In history, man started to live in

caves, a type of shelter that provides a place safe from environmental extremities like

digging below ground level and hanging under mountain cliffs. In constructing a shelter

there are many construction materials to be used like plywood, bars, lumbers, screw,

nails, and roof. Primarily hollow blocks are very important materials in creating houses,

buildings, and other infrastructures. It is composed of Portland cement, water, sand, and

gravel. By value of their good durability, fire resistance, and high speed of construction,

hollow blocks are cost effective and better alternative to burnt clay bricks (MSME

Development Institute, 2011) .

However, there are still problems in using hollow blocks like being brittle and having

cracks. Philippine commercial hollow blocks are made of low quality materials but they

sell it with a high price that cost 10.50Php. It results to low quality infrastructure that can

easily be destroyed by natural phenomena.

Baobab (Adansonia digitata L.) fruit has a strong peel or rind and has fibers that can

be used as an additive that can help strengthen hollow blocks. Baobab bark or its fibers

are used to make ropes, sacks, clothes, baskets, and mats and are also mainly used for

medicinal purposes (Sidibe & Williams, 2002). According to Modibbo et al., (2009),

relative proportions of amorphous, which are relatively high in baobab bast fibers, to

crystalline regions are presumed to be the major determinant. It is also found that baobab

appears to have high percentage of resistance to breakage compared to other fibers.

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Due to the problem in commercial hollow blocks this research desires to create a

strong and high quality of hollow blocks that is cheaper than its commercial counterpart.

To achieve that, the researchers aim to create hollow blocks composed of Andansonia

digitata L. (baobab) fruit peel as an additive and test its quality.

Objectives of the Study

This study aims to investigate the effectiveness of baobab (Adansonia digitata L.) fruit

peel as an additive to the hollow blocks. Specifically, this study aims to:

1. create hollow blocks with the addition of baobab (Adansonia digitata L.) fruit

peel.

2. determine the strength of baobab hollow blocks (BHB) using different cement-

baobab concentration.

3. determine the water absorption capacity of baobab hollow blocks (BHB) using

different cement-baobab concentration.

4. compare the strength of baobab hollow blocks (BHB) with the commercial hollow

blocks.

5. compare the water absorption capacity of baobab hollow blocks (BHB) with the

commercial hollow blocks.

Research Question

This study seeks to find the answer to the following questions:

1. What is the quality of the created hollow blocks with an additive of baobab

(Adansonia digitata L.) fruit peel?

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2. What is the strength of baobab hollow blocks (BHB) using different cement-

baobab concentration?

3. What is the water absorption capacity of baobab hollow blocks (BHB) using

different cement-baobab concentration?

4. What is the difference of commercial hollow blocks and baobab hollow blocks

(BHB) according to strength?

5. What is the difference of commercial hollow blocks and baobab hollow blocks

(BHB) according to water absorption capacity?

Significance of the Study

Due to the increasing demand of commercial hollow blocks in the country, the

creation of a cheaper and resourceful additive can be helpful for the following:

Masonry and Construction Industry. This study can help to improve the construction

industry method and service by using baobab hollow blocks (BHB). The consumers will

choose to buy the hollow blocks containing baobab (Adansonia digitata L.). If ever this

research is proven to be cheaper than commercial hollow blocks which are cost effective

hollow block.

Constructors, Engineers, and Architect. They will be able to create strong houses and

buildings using baobab hollow blocks. These new blocks will help them make building

construction faster and less expensive, as well as resulting structures which are more

durable and have low capacity of water absorption.

Community. With the use of baobab hollow blocks in building, houses and other

infrastructures in the community, the safety of the people living in the area will be
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ensured. People’s expenses in the construction of these infrastructures will be reduced as

well.

Future Researchers. The result and information would be a gateway for other

researchers to make innovations of this research.

Scope and Limitation

This study covers the effectiveness of using baobab (Adansonia digitata L.)

specifically its peel and fibers, as an additive in creating hollow blocks. The baobab fruit

will be collected from Samonte Park, Cavite City. Other materials that will be needed in

the creation of hollow blocks such as cement, gravel, and sand will be bought from a

construction materials provider. The peel of the baobab fruit will be grinded and then

combined with the hollow block mixture at different proportions, specifically 25:75,

50:50 and 75:25 ratios. The created hollow blocks will be compared to commercial

hollow blocks. An industrial test will be done to compare the strength and water

absorption capacity of the Baobab hollow blocks and the ordinary hollow blocks.

Analysis of the chemical composition of the baobab (Adansonia digitata L.), wood

construction, and physical properties like color, texture, size, and density are beyond the

scope of the study.

The study will be conducted at Cavite National High School, Cavite City from late

October to November 2017.

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Chapter 2

REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE AND STUDIES

This section discusses about the different literature and studies related in the creation

of hollow blocks with an additive of baobab fruit peel.

Related Literature

Hollow Blocks

Hollow blocks are made up of sand, gravel, cement and its hollow and dense cement

concrete blocks. It was developed to be an alternative to bricks. The product was widely

used to construction activity. The cost of it is cheaper than the cost of bricks and it has

other specialties’ that a brick doesn’t have. The lost of the heat under dynamic conditions

of the building envelops made of hollow blocks is not obvious to accurately determined

the heat loss using classical one-dimensional heat flow computations. One of the best

substitutes for conventional burnt clay hollow bricks in construction industry is hollow

blocks made up of Fly-ash-Lime Phosphogypsum (FaL-G). Pollution problem from

industrial or agricultural solid waste is one of the problems in the world until now. A solid

waste bricks is useful to provide a potential sustainable solution to that problem and leads

to the development of the waste-create bricks.

Baobab (Adansonia digitata L.)

Many people know the Baobab tree, but many of them didn’t know it has a fruit and it

is one of the most nutrient-dense foods in the world. Baobab tree is valuable- its bark can
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used in making rope and even for clothing. Cosmetic oil is made up of Baobab seed.

According to F. Chigondo et. al (2013) Baobab fruit shell (a cheap raw material) can

produce that can removed organic pollutants. High concentration of heavy metals in the

environment caused the variety of living species to detrimental. Researchers discovered

that Baobab fruit shell can remove Lead (II) and copper (II) ions from aqueous solution.

The treatment of industrial effulgent proven that Baobab fruit shells can be used as a cost

effective absorbent for the removal of Lead (II) and Copper (II) ions from aqueous

solution.

Related Study

This section discusses several inquires related to the hollow blocks with the addition

of baobab (Adasonia digitata L.)

Coarse aggregate of concrete hollow blocks can be substitute by a coconut shells and

fibers. Coconut shell and fiber quality is good indicators as aggregate of concrete hollow

blocks are particles, shape and texture, resistance to crushing, absorption and surface

moisture, grading, resistance to freezing and heating and light-weight. It’s classified as

miscellaneous material used for wall panels and partitions and the compressive strength

gained by coconut is higher than the conventional concrete hollow blocks after 28th days.

Surechchandera H. S. et. al (2014) studied the Experimental investigation on the effect

of replacement of sand by quarry dust in hollow concrete blocks for different mix

proportion. An attempt has been made to determine the properties of hollow concrete

blocks produced by replacing sand by quarry dust. Both partial (i.e.50%) and complete

replacement has been tried with and without admixtures. Four different proportions have
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been considered. In two proportion studies have been made by considering different

which ratio compare than commercial hollow block.

Ganiron T. U. Jr. (2012) state that non-load bearing concrete hollow blocks containing

recycled window glass had test the highest compressive strength appeared in the hollow

blocks with 1:2:4 cement-recycled glass-sand ratios than commercial hollow blocks with

the ratio of 1:2:3 sand, gravel and cement. The mixture with 1:2:4 cement-recycled glass-

sand ratios has the least moisture content found among the hollow blocks containing

recycled clear flat glass, and the use of clear flat glass in manufacturing hollow non-load

bearing concrete masonry blocks would be the capability of finely crushed glass to

manifest its pozzolanic effect and its low moisture content characteristics, making it

possible for the mixture with 1:2:4 cement-recycled glass-sand ratios to be used as load

bearing blocks.

Definition of Terms

This section discusses the terminologies used in this research study.

Baobab (Adansonia digitata L.) fruit peel- Used as an additive in creating hollow blocks.

Hollow blocks- composed of the sand, gravel, and cement with addition of grind baobab

peel.

Spalling or Cracking- These are fissures or gaps on the surface of baobab hollow blocks

and commercial hollow blocks caused by calamities that would further lead to

breakage.

Strength of hollow blocks- This refers to the durability of the Baobab hollow blocks

when an object with high mass was dropped on it.

Water absorption capacity- The water holding ability of Baobab hollow blocks.
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Chapter III

METHODOLOGY

Project development
Preparation of
materials

Creation of BHB

Testing

Water absorption
capacity of Baobab Strength of Baobab
hollow blocks hollow blocks

Analysis

Figure 1. Flow diagram of the study

Research Procedure

The primary materials needed to create a hollow blocks with an additive of baobab
fruit peel will be baobab fruit, sand, gravel and cement. The baobab fruit will be collected
and grind. The grinded peel will be added to the sand, gravel and cement mixture at
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varying proportion. The strength and water absorption capacity of the hollow block will
be determined and compared with the commercial hollow block.

Assemble all the materials for Molder

Prepare all the
molder
materials

Figure 2. Flow Chart for hollow block molder

In the creation of mold, we used plywood planks and nails to make a one side open box
with an inner cavity of 300mm (length) * 200mm (width) * 150mm (thick). This is the
standard size of a concrete hollow block.

Creation of Baobab hollow blocks (BHB)

The baobab fruit will be cut into half the pulp will be removed from the shell. The
fruit shell will be grind & run dried for 1 day. The required amounts of sand, gravel,
baobab shell, fiber and cement will be measured to obtain the proper amounts of each
material at different proportion, specifically 25:75, 50:50 and 75:25 equivalents in mass
ratios. After the dry materials are blended a 8 ml amount of water is added. The concrete
is then mixed for six to eight minutes. Once the load of concrete is thoroughly mixed, it is
dumped into a molder. Dry it for 24-hours. Figure 1 is a schematic representation of
hollow blocks development.
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Collect Baobab fruit

Grind/Sundered

Mix with cement, sand

and gravel

Hollow Block A Hollow Block B Hollow Block C

25:75 50:50 75:25
25%= baobab fiber & shell 50%= baobab fiber & 75%= baobab fiber &
shell shell
75%= sand, gravel
&cement 50%= sand, gravel & 25%= sand, gravel &
cement cement

Mold
Figure 3. Flow Diagram of the Creation of Baobab Hollow Block

The baobab fruit will be grinded after cutting it into half and removing the pulp from
the shell. Then the grinded baobab fiber and shell will be sun dried. You will be requiring
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cement, sand, gravel, and water for making the concrete mix. Put the cement, sand and
gravel in the molder together with baobab fiber and shell at varying proportions and
different sample model: Hollow Block A (25:75)- 25% of baobab fiber & shell and 75%
of sand, gravel &cement, Hollow Block B (50:50)- 50% of baobab fiber & shell and 50%
of sand, gravel & cement and Hollow Block C (75:25)- 75% of baobab fiber & shell and
25% of sand gravel & cement. The 3 sample model with different varying proportion will
be pour in the same mold.

References

Bamalli Z., Mohammed A. S., Ghazali H. M., and Karim R. (2014). Baobab Tree

(Adansonia digitata L) Parts: Nutrition, Applications in Food and Uses in Ethno-

medicine – A Review. Annals of Nutritional Disorders & Therapy vol. 1.(3).

De Caluwé E., Halamová K., and Van Damme P. (2010). Adansonia digitata L. – A

review of traditional uses, phytochemistry and pharmacology. afrika focus vol. 23(1).

Ganiron T.C. Jr. (October 2013), Recycling Of Waste Coconut Shells as Substitute for

Aggregates in Mix Proportioning Of Concrete Hollow Blocks. Retrieved 04 January

2017 from https://www.researchgate.net/publication/257099368_Recycling_of_

Waste_Coconut_Shells_as_Substitute_for_Aggregates_in_Mix_Proportioning_of_

Concrete_Hollow_Blocks.

Modibbo, U.U., Aliyu, B.A., Nkafamiya, I.I. (2009). The effect of mercerization media

on the physical properties of local plant bast fibres. International Journal of Physical

Sciences. Adamawa State: Nigeria (4) 698-704p.

MSME Development Institute. (January 2011), Project profile on cement concrete hollow

blocks. Retrieved 09, January 2017 from http://www.msmedithrissur.gov.in/

pdf/HollowConcreteBlocks.pdf&ved=0ahUKEwic8YqtrrvRAhVGwLwKHS9tBSoQ
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FggZMAA&usg=AFQjCNGhvEGg9SrcokOrS7E0aEceJIB1A&sig2=IJriOdE2WNI0

YBtzbXx0Q.

Sibibe, M. & Williams, J.T. (2002). International Centre for Underutilized Crops

Southampton: UK, 96p.

Sureshchandra H. S., Sarangapani G., and Naresh Kumar B. G. (2014) Experimental

Investigation on the Effect of Replacement of Sand by Quarry Dust in Hollow

Concrete Block for Different Mix Proportions. International Journal of Environmental

Science and Development, Vol. 5, (1)

Tian Y. (May 2011), Experimental Study on Producing Concrete Hollow Block with

Mining Slag. Retrieved 04 January 2017 from http://www.scientific.net/AMR.261-

263.820&ved=0ahUKEwi349vrvRAhWEKZQKHUQHB0oQFggZMAA&usg=AFQj

CNFyzqI3-RumW30kfLWpE9Xl-r8Qhw&sig2=rv2Lb68HLe1R_gfdv58sVw.