Physicochemical analysis of sugarcane bagasseash (SBA) blended concrete to evaluate the pozzolanic activity of SBA

Abstract

Sugarcane bagasse ash (SBA) is the residue of burnt sugarcane bagasse used as a fuel in the co-generation units. The enormous quantities of SBA obtained as waste material from the cogeneration units can be utilized as a pozzolona.This article presents the investigation on the physical and chemical analysis on concrete made with OPC blended with SBA. Experimental investigation is performed on M30 grade concrete which forms the control mix. SBA blended concrete is obtained by partially replacing the OPC with SBA at different percentages. The workability of the fresh concrete and compressive strength at 7 and 28 days of the control concrete and SBA blended concrete are determined.The particle size distribution, surface area and specific gravity of OPC and SBA were determined using HORIBA zeta analyzer, BET surface area analyzer and Standard Le-chatelier flask respectively. The chemical composition of SBA and OPC was obtained using XRF technique and the mineralogical analysis of SBA was carried out using XRD technique.To evaluate the pozzolanic activity of SBA, the hardened concrete matrix wereanalyzed for their microstructural and chemical composition using SEM and EDS techniques. The compressive strength results indicate that replacement of OPC by SBA upto 20% is beneficial. The SEM images and EDS analysis substantiates the pozzolanicbehavior of SBA at different replacement percentages.