Use of Rice Husk Ash in Concrete: A Review

Abstract

Conventional building material like cement is both resource and energy-intensive material. Production of cement also emits CO2 in atmosphere. In order to decrease this environmental pollution and cost of conventional building materials, alternative materials like fly ash, ground granulated blast-furnace slag, metakaolin, rice husk ash (RHA) and silica fume is used because of their pozzolanic behavior. RHA which contains high silica content produced by controlled incineration of rice husk can be used as supplementary cementitious material (SCM) in concrete production since it exhibits high pozzolanic characteristics and contributes to strength and impermeability of concrete. This paper presents an overview of the work carried out on the use of RHA as partial replacement of cement in concrete and its effect on workability, compressive strength and chloride permeability of concrete.