Development of Self-Consolidating High Strength Concrete Incorporating Treated Palm Oil Fuel Ash

Belal Alsubari,Mohd Jumaat,Payam Shafigh

doi:10.3390/ma8052154

Abstract

Palm oil fuel ash (POFA) has previously been used as a partial cement replacement in concrete. However, limited research has been undertaken to utilize POFA in high volume in concrete. This paper presents a study on the treatment and utilization of POFA in high volume of up to 50% by weight of cement in self-consolidating high strength concrete (SCHSC). POFA was treated via heat treatment to reduce the content of unburned carbon. Ordinary Portland cement was substituted with 0%, 10%, 20%, 30%, and 50% treated POFA in SCHSC. Tests have been conducted on the fresh properties, such as filling ability, passing ability and segregation resistance, as well as compressive strength, drying shrinkage and acid attack resistance to check the effect of high volume treated POFA on SCHSC. The results revealed that compared to the control concrete mix, the fresh properties, compressive strength, drying shrinkage, and resistance against acid attack have been significantly improved. Conclusively, treated POFA can be used in high volume as a cement replacement to produce SCHSC with an improvement in its properties.

Highlights

Self-consolidating high strength concrete (SCHSC) is a new type of concrete that combines the advantages of both self-consolidating and high strength concretes
One of the benefits of using the heat treatment for Palm oil fuel ash (POFA) is the significant reduction of the Loss on ignition (LOI) content, which reduced from 16.1% to 1.8%
Treated POFA can be utilized in higher percentage with an improvement in the concrete properties compared to ground POFA

Summary

Introduction

Self-consolidating high strength concrete (SCHSC) is a new type of concrete that combines the advantages of both self-consolidating and high strength concretes. SCHSC has been used to different types of structural applications for which densely congested reinforcement concrete elements and the pumping to high levels is needed. It can be used in many applications, such as high-rise buildings, tunnel lining repairs, and congested foundations [4,5]. The cement content used in SCHSC ranges between 430 and 700 kg/m3 [6,7]. This leads to an increase in the cost of the structure. It was estimated that every one ton of cement produced 650–920 kg of CO2, which is approximately 7% of the global CO2 emissions [8,9]

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