Assessment on Optimal Level of Reactive Biosilica Affected by Incineration Conditions in Perlis Rice Husk Ash as Supplementary Cementitious Materials in Concrete

Abstract

Rice husk (RH) is an agricultural waste transformed to produce secondary by-products and is widely accepted as a substitution of cement or concrete mixtures. This paper deals with the optimal level of SiO2 content due to various incineration conditions of rice husk grown in Perlis, Malaysia. RH was burnt in a controlled environment with a targeted temperature of 650, 750 and 850 °C at various incineration period between 1 and 6 h. All the ashes were assessed for visual inspection and physiochemical and mineralogical properties using X-ray fluorescence (XRF) and X-ray diffraction (XRD). From the analysis, a significant amount of SiO2 in the range of 89–93 wt % was successfully obtained with the preferable properties of supplementary cementitious materials: amorphous silica with high reactivity, ultrafine size, and large surface area. Contrary, the burning temperature of 850 °C greater than 4 h incineration period is not advisable to be used as it transformed into a crystalline phase. No obvious color changes were observed for the ashes as the amount oxide compound of K2O causes carbon entrapped in surface melting. To sum up, 650 °C incineration for 1 h shows an optimum result, and the RH is bearable to reduce the negative impact on the environment.