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Study on partial replacement of groundnut shell ash with cement

Article  in  Challenge Journal of Concrete Research Letters · September 2017

DOI: 10.20528/cjcrl.2017.03.002

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 CHALLENGE JOURNAL OF CONCRETE RESEARCH LETTERS 8 (3) (2017) 84–90

Study on partial replacement of groundnut shell ash with cement

Nadiminti Venkata Lakshmi *, Polinati Satya Sagar

GMR Institute of Technology, Razam, Andhra Pradesh 532127, India

ABSTRACT ARTICLE INFO

Concrete plays a prominent role in the construction industry. In the present scenario, Article history:
there is a shortage of this material so there is a need to find alternatives to replace it Received 11 August 2017
in the concrete. In order to overcome this situation; many waste products which are Revised 1 September 2017
available freely like a paper waste, red mud, rice husk and plastic waste can be used. Accepted 10 September 2017
Among all of these, Ground nut shell ash is one of the good waste materials available
Keywords:
from the oil industry. It can be used widely for the replacement of cement. The
Cement replacement
ground net shell contains CaO, SiO2, Al2O3, and Fe2O3. This experimental investigation Groundnut shell ash
was carried out to evaluate the strength of concrete, in which cement was replaced Compression test
with ground nut shell ash for cubes, cylinders, and Prisms with different percentages Split tensile test
which vary from 0% to 30% at an interval of 5% were performed. Concrete was Flexural test
batched by weight on adopting a ratio of 1:2:4 with water–cement ratio of 0.6. Con-
crete cubes of 150*150*150 mm in dimensions, cylinders of 150*300 mm in dimen-
sions and 100*150 mm prisms are used. These Cubes, cylinders, and prisms were
tested for 7, 14 and 28 days for compression, flexural and split tensile strengths. It is
observed that 10% replacement of ground nut shell ash shown the highest strength
values when compared with other percentages and for 15% replacement of ground
nut shell ash the compressive and split tensile strength obtained the highest strength
rather than other flexural strength.

1. Introduction as sand from the river), water, and/or admixtures. Con-

crete is made by mixing of Cement, water, coarse and fine
The explicitly in use of concrete, and its adaptability aggregates and admixtures (if required). By mixing; this
to environmental conditions make concrete suitable for objective concrete gives strength and durability. Con-
applications in almost all civil engineering and building crete is presently one of the most popular materials used
structures (Mtallib and Ibrahim, 2009). To save energy in construction and civil engineering works. When rein-
and to earn carbon credit is very much essential for the forced with steel, concrete has a higher capacity for car-
improvement of mankind. To produce tons of cement we rying loads. Most of the cement used in construction
use earth resources like limestone, clay, and chalk etc. work is ordinary Portland cement. Portland cement is
During manufacturing of Cement, an equal amount of manufactured by mixing naturally occurring substances
carbon-dioxide is released into the atmosphere which is containing chemical composition.
harmful for both environment and human. Energy plays Therefore the utilization of groundnut shell ash re-
an important role in the period of developing countries duces the environmental problem. In recent days, the
like India, China, Cuba, and Egypt etc. By earning carbon natural pozzolanas materials use as partial replacement
credit by using agriculture waste (ground nut) for Build- for cement has increased strength and durability. Litera-
ing Materials like cement, both the energy & environ- ture and various research papers are available which
ment can be saved. Concrete consists of cement, aggre- have mentioned about the various advantages in the use
gates (generally coarse aggregates made of gravel, of pozzolans in concrete production. At present, issues
crushed stone, and limestone, plus fine aggregates such related to environmental conservation have gained

* Corresponding author. Tel.: +91-94921-07695 ; E-mail address: [email protected] (N. V. Lakshmi)

ISSN: 2548-0928 / DOI: https://doi.org/10.20528/cjcrl.2017.03.002
 Lakshmi and Sagar / Challenge Journal of Concrete Research Letters 8 (3) (2017) 84–90 85

importance; hence the utilization of these waste materi-  Cement content per m3 of concrete = 310 kg
als that are available in our environment is now neces-  Percentage of entrapped air =2%
sary. Apart from these materials, for replacement, many  Fine aggregates required = 620 kg/m3
fresh materials are also been used as replacement mate-  Coarse aggregate required =1240 kg/m3
rials in the recent construction works. Some of the re-
placement materials are red mud, paper waste, hypo Table 1 shows the mix proportions of plain concrete
sludge, industrial waste etc. These replacement materi- mix.
als are been used in case of high strength concrete too. In
this study, Groundnut shell Ash (GNSA) is used as a par- Table 1. Mix ratio for plain cement concrete.
tial replacement of cement. Groundnut shell is the form
of fuel used in sweet manufacturing units and the oil Fine Coarse
Cement W/C ratio
mills. The groundnut shell after being used as fuel gener- aggregates aggregates
ates ash which can be used as a replacement material for 310 620 1240 186
cement, the disposal of which is the major hassle.
Thereby results in the decrease in waste to be disposed 1 2 4 0.6
of and also there is the effective usage of the waste that
is generated.
With the use of groundnut shell ash in concrete the 3. Materials
cost will decrease and also it reduces the environmental
pollution and saves the energy. GNSA has better poz- The materials used in this study were ground nut shell
zolanic property. It contains some chemical composition ash (GNSA), ordinary Portland cement (OPC 53 grade),
also. The pozzolanic activity of ash increases with an in- sand as fine aggregates, chippings as coarse aggregates
crease of time. The addition of GNSA in cement concrete (20 mm size), and water. Wooden moulds were used for
may reduce drying shrinkage, water absorption, but in- cubes, cylinders and for the prism. The ground nut shells
creases the setting time. Increases of setting time are due were taken from a farm in Srikakulam in India state.
to slow reactivity of GNSA.
The presence of GNSA may block the existing pore 3.1. Cement
structure of concrete and thereby increase its strength
and impermeability. The main object is to find a solution Ordinary Portland cement available in the market of
to reduce the environmental pollution due to cement grade 53 was used in the project. Care has been taken to
manufacturing by using GNSA. see that the procumbent made from a single batch is
stored in airtight containers to prevent it from being af-
fected by the atmospheric moisture and humidity. Ce-
2. Mix Proportioning ment was subjected to some physical tests in accordance
with BS 4550 (1978) such as compressive strength, spe-
Concrete mix design for M15 grade in this experiment cific gravity, setting time etc. the details of tests are given
was designed as per the guidelines specified in I.S. in Table 2.
10262-1982. Design stipulations are shown below.
3.2. Fine aggregates
2.1. Design stipulations
Fine aggregates is an available river sand. Sand is used
 Characteristic compressive strength =15 N/mm2 as fine aggregates in this project. The sand is free from
(Required in the field at 28 days) clay, silt, and organic impurities. Sand was tested for var-
 Maximum size of aggregate = 20 mm (angular) ious properties like specific gravity, bulk density, fine-
 Degree of workability = 0.80 ness modulus, partial size etc. and in according with IS
 Degree of quality control = Good 2386-1963. These test results are given in the Table 3.
 Type of exposure = Mild
 Type of vibration = Vibration 3.3. Coarse aggregates

2.2. Test data for materials Machine crushed angular granite metal of 20 mm
nominal size from the local source was used as coarse
 Type of cement or grade of cement- OPC 53 grade aggregates. It is free from impurities such as dust, clay,
 Specific gravity of cement = 3.12 and organic matter etc., it was tested with different prop-
 Specific gravity of coarse aggregates = 2.527 erties as shown below in Table 4.
 Specific gravity of fine aggregates = 2.62
3.4. Groundnut shell ash
2.3. Design of concrete mix
The shells were sun dried and then ground using rice
 Target mean strength (fC’) = milling machine to reduce its size to a size conforming to
Fck+1.65(s)= 15+1.65(3.5)=20.775N/mm2 coarse aggregates as specified in BS 882 (1992). The ash
 Water cement ratio = 0.6 was obtained by burning of ground nut shells on an iron
 Water content =186 litres sheet or iron tin in an open air under normal temperature
86 Lakshmi and Sagar / Challenge Journal of Concrete Research Letters 8 (3) (2017) 84–90

(6500C). After burning of ground nut shell, ash will gen- through British standard sieve of 75 microns. GNSA con-
erate. This ash was cooled and after used to sieve sists some chemical properties as shown in Table 5.

Table 2. Properties of cement.

S. no. Properties Test results Requirement as per IS:12269-1987

1. Fineness, m2/kg 245 225 minimum

2. Setting time

Initial (minutes) 50 Not less than 30

Final (minutes) 180 Not more than 600

3. Specific gravity 3.15 -----------

4. Soundness, mm 7 10 maximum

5. Compressive strength, MPa

3 days 30 27
7 days 39 37
28 days 55 53

Table 3. Properties of fine aggregates. 3.6. Concrete cubes productions

S. no. Property Test result The mix proportion used for this work was 1:2:4 (M15
1. Specific gravity 2.52 grade). The proportions of cement to ash in the concrete
2. Fineness modulus 6.104
were 100:0%, 95:5%, 90:10%,85:15%,80:20%,75:25%
and 70:30%, respectively. The concrete materials ce-
3. Mean particle size 0.1-0.2µm ment, sand, chippings, and ground nut shell ash were
4. Partial size Spherical mixed by hand with a water/cement ratio of 0.6 by
weight. The materials were mixed together thoroughly
by string to form a uniform mass.
Table 4. Properties of coarse aggregates.
The moulds were cleaned with engine oil or grease to
S. no. Property Test result prevent the development of the bond between the mould
and concrete. The freshly prepared mixed concrete was
1. Specific gravity 2.56
taken into mould. Each mould was filled with three lay-
2. Fineness modulus 2.385 ers of concrete and each layer was rammed 25 times
3. Mean particle size 0.1-0.2µm with tamping rod. Then the concrete cubes and cylinders
in the moulds were left in the open air 24 hours. For each
4. Particle size Angular
of the cement: ash proportion, 3 cubes, 3 cylinders and 3
prisms were cast. Therefore a total 72 cubes, 72 cylin-
Table 5. Chemical composition of GNSA. ders and 72 prisms were produced for testing. Removing
of the concrete cubes and cylinders from the moulds was
Constituent Percentage composition GNSA (%) carefully done after 24 hours of the concrete setting. Cur-
Silica (SiO2) 16.3 ing of the concrete cubes was done by complete immer-
sion in a pond or tank filled with tap water only for peri-
Ferrous Oxide (Fe2O3) 1.7
ods of 7, 14 and 28 days respectively.
Calcium Oxide (CaO) 8.69
Aluminium Oxide (Al2O3) 6 3.7. Batching information for cubes and cylinders cast
Magnesium Oxide (MgO) 7 Table 6 shows the mix proportions of different mix
Sodium Oxide (Na2O3) 10 used in this study.
Potassium Oxide (K2O) 16
Sulphite (SO32-) 6.3 4. Testing of Specimens

4.1. Compressive strength test

3.5. Water
Before crushing, cubes were brought out of the water
The locally available portable water accepted for local and kept it for about 1-2 hours for water to dry off. They
construction was used in the experimental investigation were brought and then then taken to the crushing ma-
after testing. The pH value should not be less than 6. The chine in according with BS 1881 (1983). Cubes get
water is portable; it therefore satisfies the specification cracks due to failure in their strength as a result of the
requirement for water according to BS 3148 (1980). load applied to the cubes by the crushing machine; the
 Lakshmi and Sagar / Challenge Journal of Concrete Research Letters 8 (3) (2017) 84–90 87

load on the cubes was applied at a constant rate of stress strength is calculated as Fck=P/A; where, Fck is compres-
equal to 0.2 N/mm2 per second .The strength was rec- sive strength, P is ultimate load (N) and A is the loaded
orded to the nearest 0.2 N/mm2. The compressive area (mm2).

Table 6. Percentage replacement with different proportions of materials.

Percentage of GNSA Cement Sand Granite Water Water/Cement

GNSA (kg) (kg) (kg) (kg) (litre) ratio

0% 0 39.177 78.399 156.798 23.506 0.6

5% 1.953 36.918 78.399 156.798 22.321 0.6

10% 3.915 35.254 78.399 156.798 21.153 0.6

15% 5.557 33.232 78.399 156.798 19.935 0.6

20% 7.835 31.34 78.399 156.798 18.798 0.6

25% 9.72 29.358 78.399 156.798 17.61 0.6

30% 11.708 27.328 78.399 156.798 16.426 0.6

35% 13.775 25.39 78.399 156.798 15.26 0.6

4.2. Spilt tensile strength test cone was determined by taking measurement from the
top of the slump cone to the top of the concrete. The
After the specimen had been cured for 7, 14 and 28 slump was measured as the difference between the
days in the water tank, the specimens were taken out height of the cone and the height of the slump concrete.
from water and allowed dry for 1-2 hours. This test was
carried out by placing the specimens horizontally be-
tween the loading surface of a testing machine and the 5. Results and Discussions
load is applied until the cylinder gets failure.
Split tensile strength test was calculated as =2P/𝜋DL. 5.1. Compressive strength

4.3. Flexural strength test The results of the compressive strength test carried
out are shown in the Fig. 1 below. It shows that com-
Flexural strength is also called bend strength. Flexural pressive strength increases with the increase of cubes
strength specimen is in rectangular shape. After the curing and decreases when the percentage of ground
specimen had been cured for 7, 14 and 28 days in the wa- nut shells ash increases. At 0% ash and 100% cement
ter tank, the specimens were taken out from water and that served as the control, compressive strength in-
allowed dry for 1-2 hours. This test is carried out by plac- creases from 13.65 N/mm2 at 7 days to 17.35 N/mm2 at
ing the specimens under a load in a three point bending 28 days.
or four-point bending. Flexural strength test was calcu- Compressive strength of 90:10% cement /ash in-
lated as: creases from 15.6 N/mm2 at 7 days to 23.15 N/mm2 at
For three point bending is = ϭ = 3FL/2bd2; 28 days. The compressive strength for 35% ash replace-
For four point bending strength= ϭ = 3FL/4bd2; ment were 5.9 N/mm2, 7.52 N/mm2 and 8.92 N/mm2 for
where, F is the load, L is the length of the support spam, 7, 14, and 28 days, respectively
B is width, D is the thickness. According to BS 8110, a grade 15 concrete of 1:2:4
without any mixing with cement should have acquired
4.4. Slump test strength of 13.65 N/mm2 within 7 days of wet curing;
17.35 N/mm2 within 28 days. Based on the result ob-
Slump test was carried out to determine the worka- tained from this reported work, OPC/GASH of 90:10%
bility of the concrete mix prepared in the lab during the would be suitable for concrete. The results shows that
progress of the work. This test was carried out in differ- their strength improves with time since pozzolanas react
ent percentages to check the uniform quality of concrete more slowly than cement due to variation in their con-
during mixing. Generally, this test used to find the work- stituent’s composition.
ability which indicates water- cement ratio but there are The pattern of this study was similar to Alabadan et
various factors including properties of materials, mixing, al. (2006), Sideris and Sarva (2001), Sengul et al. (2005);
methods, admixtures etc. also affect the slump value. The they reported that cement blended with pozzolanas
slump cone was placed on a flat non-porous surface and would produce 65 to 95 % strength of OPC concrete in
held down by foot. The mould was then filled in three 28 days. As previously described by Bengtsson and
layers. Each layer was compacted. After the third layer Whilken (1986), Nwofor and Sule (2012); a percentage
had been tamped, the slump cone was immediately re- replacement of 10% with GSA will be adequate for good
moved by raising it vertically. The height of the slump concrete work.
88 Lakshmi and Sagar / Challenge Journal of Concrete Research Letters 8 (3) (2017) 84–90

5.2. Split tensile strength N/mm2 and 7.5N/mm2 for 7, 14 and 28 days, respec-
tively while it was for 85:15% cement/ground nut shell
The result below shows that split tensile strength for ash is 6.2N/mm2, 6.9N/mm2 and 7.5 N/mm2 for 7, 14 and
the 100:0% cement/ground nut shell ash is 1.8 N/mm2, 28 days.
2.1 N/mm2 and 2.7 N/mm2 for 7, 14 and 28 days, respec- The result in Fig. 3 show that 15% of ground nut ash
tively while it was for 90:10% cement/ground nut shell replacement gives the better result when compared to
ash is 2 N/mm2, 2.6N/mm2 and 3 N/mm2 for 7, 14 and 28 other replacement.
days. The result shows that 10% of ground nut ash re-
placement gives the better result when compared to 5.4. Slump Test
other replacement. The split tensile strength increase as
the age of the concrete increase as shown in Fig. 2. Slump test is used to find the improper mixed batch.
It measures the consistency of fresh concrete before its
5.3. Flexural strength set.
The inner portion of the mould and its base should be
The result below shows that flexural strength for the moistened at the beginning of every test. The slump
100:0% cement/ground nut shell ash is 6.00 N/mm2, 6.5 value is indicated in Fig. 4.

25
GNSA 0%
Compressive strenghth, N/mm2

20 GNSA 5%

GNSA 10%

15 GNSA 15%

GNSA 20%
10
GNSA 25%

GNSA 30%
5
GNSA 35%

0 Linear (GNSA 10%)

7 14 28

DAYS

Fig. 1. Compressive strength for all percentages.

3.5
GNSA 0%

3 GNSA 5%
Split tensile strength, N/mm2

2.5 GNSA 10%

GNSA 15%
2

GNSA 20%
1.5
GNSA 25%
1
GNSA 30%

0.5 GNSA 35%

0 Linear (GNSA 10%)

7 14 28

DAYS

Fig. 2. Split tensile strength for all percentage replacement.

 Lakshmi and Sagar / Challenge Journal of Concrete Research Letters 8 (3) (2017) 84–90 89

8
GNSA 0%

7
Flexural strength, N/mm2 GNSA 5%

6 GNSA 10%

5 GNSA 15%

4 GNSA 20%

3 GNSA 25%

2 GNSA 30%

1 GNSA 35%

0 Linear (GNSA 15%)

7 14 28

DAYS

Fig. 3. Flexural strength for all percentages.

30

25 25 24.5
24
23 22.5
22
21
20 20

15

10

0
0% 5% 10% 15% 20% 25% 30% 35%
Percentage %

Fig. 4. Slump test values for different percentages.

6. Conclusions  When W/C ratio is increased respectively, compres-

sive strength, spilt tensile strength and flexural
Based on experimental investigations by considering strength of concrete is increased.
the compressive strength, split tensile strength and flex-  Groundnut shell ash is a better innovative supplemen-
ural strength of concrete, the following observations are tary cementations’ construction material which is
made: used in concrete, so it can save the agriculture waste
 The compressive strength of concrete is increases disposal costs and produce a greener concrete for
when the replacement of Cement with groundnut construction.
shell ash up to 10% replaces by weight of Cement.  This research concludes that groundnut shell ash can
 The split tensile strength of concrete is increases be innovative supplementary cementations’ Con-
when the replacement of Cement with groundnut struction Material in Concrete but judicious decisions
shell ash up to 10% replaces by weight of Cement are to be taken by engineers.
 The flexural strength of concrete is increases when
the replacement of Cement with groundnut shell ash
up to 15% replaces by weight of Cement.
90 Lakshmi and Sagar / Challenge Journal of Concrete Research Letters 8 (3) (2017) 84–90

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