INVESTIGATING THE EFFECT OF RICE HUSK WASTE ASH AS POZZOLANIC MATERIAL IN CONCRETE MIXTURES FOR NIGERIAN CEMENT INDUSTRIES
The high price of construction materials, especially cement, is considered to be one of the major challenges that hinders the successful delivery of infrastructures across the Nigeria. One way of addressing this high cost of cement is by utilizing locally available waste such as rice husk. This paper sought to investigate the possible use of yola rice waste husk ash in concrete characteristics at various replacement amounts.. Experimental work was done on the collected ingredients of concrete, coarse aggregate, fine aggregate, and rice husk, chemical analysis test of the RHA, mix proportioning of the materials, and concrete mixing with different RHA proportions The physico-mechanical qualities of standard grade concrete specimens with the addition of finely ground rice husk ash obtained from yola rice mill outlet were evaluated. As a response, 96 concrete cube specimens were molded in varied quantities of ground risk husk ash, including 5%, 10%, 15%, and 20% replacement levels, and 12 cube specimens with the addition of super plasticizing admixture. All of the specimens were cured in a laboratory setting, and compressive strength values were taken after 3, 7, 28, and 56 days of curing. According to the findings, Nigerian rice husk ash is adequate for 5% to 15% replacement levels. However, slump flow and density of specimen tests suggest that the results have deteriorated as the rice husk ash amount of replacement has increased. The laboratory test results were also confirmed using analysis of variance (ANOVA) and further post-hoc testing. Further studies should focus on examining the RHA for high strength and high-performance concretes and evaluate the pozzolanic activities of the RHA in nigeria using X-ray diffraction analysis.
Authors : Felix, A.M. and Wilberforce, K.I.
Category : Open Access Volume (Issue) : 8(2) Date Uploaded : 28th January 2023