YARDSTICK INTERNATIONAL COLLEGE

ONLINE PROGRAM
BUSINESS RESEARCH AND
METHODOLOGY

A proposal on the use of coal (fly ash) in concrete

Submitted by - ABEL DANIEL (ID MBAO/5206/15A)

Submitted to- Instructor Berihun Muche (phd)

Jan 02, 2023

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 Table of content
Page

 Introduction……………………………………………………1
 Background……………………………………………….…...2
 Statement of Problem ………………………………..….3
 Purpose of the study……………………………………….4
 Significance of the Study………………………………….4
 Delimitations of the Study……………………………….4
 Methodology and Materials…………………………….5
 Literature Review…………………………………………….7
 Cost Break Down……………………………………………..9
 Time Schedule………………………………………………….9
 Conclusion……………………………………………………..10

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 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
First I would like to express my heartfelt gratitude to
instructor Mr. Berihun Muchie(Phd) for giving this interesting
project which helps me how to write a proposal for different
businesses and projects. I also extend my recognitions to all
peoples and my friends for their contributions in this proposal.

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 Introduction

Cement production is one of the expensive industries in the world. It involves

huge capital, skilled power, good natural resource and high amount of energy. As a
result, the cost is very high and cannot be afforded by many people. This in turn results
lower quality construction, like using mud (chika, in Amharic) in construction, which
does not give good safety and comfort.

There is another big problem of cement beside capital intensiveness; it becomes very
hazardous for the environment. It is very amazing to hear that, for production of one
ton of Portland cement one ton of carbon dioxide produced. This brings an increase in
the greenhouse gases dramatically. But using cement as a construction material could
not be avoided, especially for countries like Ethiopia where concrete and HCB are used
extensively for construction due the availability of the natural resource for cement
production.

Dumping waste materials such as fly ash, slag, silica fume etc. to the environment
directly can cause environmental problem. Hence the reuse of waste material has
been emphasized. Waste products can be used to produce new products or can be
used as partial replacement for other materials so that natural resources are used
more efficiently and the environment is protected from waste deposits. These
industrial wastes are dumped in the nearby land and the natural fertility of the soil is
spoiled.

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 Background

Many scientists and Engineers have been working on many researches to partially
replace cement by other waste materials which are cheaper and result the desired
strength. These materials are called partial cement replacement materials; they could
be organic or inorganic.

Organic partial replacement materials are materials obtained from burning of the
organic matters such as from coconut shell, bagasse, rice husk, coffee husk etc.

Inorganic partial replacement materials are materials obtained from inorganic matters
such as burnt coal, crushed glass, silica fume etc.

To decide which partial replacement should be used it is necessary to conduct a

feasibility study that asses the availability and applicability of the material. Accordingly
we have undergone a general study on coal or fly ash, rice husk & coffee husk which
are widely available in Ethiopia.

In preliminary study both rice husk and coffee husk were available sufficiently but the
prices were not attractive to use them in partial replacement material due to the high
demand of the market. Rice husk is used for in the production of food for farm animals
and coffee husk were used as a source of energy by local people. These situations
forced us to give stress for fly ash.

Fly ashes are finely divided residue resulting from the combustion of ground or
powdered coal. They are generally finer than cement and consist mainly of glassy-
spherical particles as well as residues of hematite and magnetite, char, and some
crystalline phases formed during cooling.

Currently over 5,000 tons /year of fly ash is produced as a by-product in Ethiopia.
According to the data of Ministry of Mining and office of EPRDF-METEC, this number
is expected to increase to 300,000 tons per year in the coming two years due the
expansion of textile and fertilizer industries that use coal as a source of energy. This
figures forced us to decide to study fly ash in depth which we feel we can contribute
something for the society regarding coal ash.

It is well known that blending cement with fly ash or other supplementary cementing
materials improves the physical as well as chemical properties of the fresh concrete

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and the engineering properties of hardened concrete. These improvements are
generally attributed to both the physical and chemical effects. The physical process is
due to the particles fineness of the supplementary cementing materials that are much
smaller than that of the cement, thereby providing densely packed particles between
fine aggregates and cement grains, and, hence, the reduction in porosity.

The chemical process is due to the activation of the non-crystalline silica, the major
constituent of fly ash, calcium hydroxide produced from the hydrating cement to form
secondary calcium silicate hydrate that also fills the pore spaces and further reduces
the porosity.
Factors such as the origin of the coal and burning conditions, strongly affect fly ashes
chemical and mineralogical compositions. This research deals with the concrete
containing supplementary cementing material: fly ash, which is taken from AYKA
ADDIS Textile Plc. The factory uses coal as energy source and disposes the by-product
ash directly to the environment.

Statement of Problem

The basic problems which enforce as to do this project are:-

1. The environmental effect of waste industrial materials such as coal ash.

2. The increasing price of cement.
3. The low awareness of using partial cement substitutes

The limitations we might face during this research are:

1. The coal ashes we will use in this research have not been studied before. This
makes difficult to know its physical and chemical property.
2. We don’t find any research done on the type of ash and its probability in using
as construction material.
3. Since the country’s electric power generation is mainly dependent on
hydropower, using coal for electric production is not used. This makes the
material not widely available in the country. Currently coal is used as source of
energy in textile factories only.

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 Purpose of the study

A. To evaluate the possibility of using coal ash as a partial replacement for cement
use in concrete. Furthermore, we will have detailed technical information on
practical application of coal ash.
B. To study material parameters and their impact on concrete durability and
strength
C. To reduce the amount of ordinary Portland cement needed in building
construction so as to achieve economic construction and sustainable
development through the preservation of the environment.

Significance of the Study

1. Coal ash is thought to be a waste material which causes pollution on the

environment, the research we are doing will provide a way of clearing pollution
caused by coal ash completely.
2. Even though the price of cement is relatively stable in the past two or three years
it is still very high, substituting coal ash will reduce the amount of money spent
on cement.
3. This research will create awareness to everyone about recycling waste materials
and it will also encourage other researchers to do research the safe and easier
way of using, recycling and disposing of byproducts from industries and homes.

Delimitations of the Study

This research is limited to the study of fly ash produced from textile and leather
factories, although it is also used in electric power generation.

We are also limited to studying fly ash in the substitution of cement in concrete. We
will not study its use in HCB or mortar production.

This study will only focus in the use of the coal ash in concrete and we will focus on
finding a suitable mix design. A deep study in the environmental impact and other
issues are not studied here.

This study will not also specify the part of construction should it be used i.e. the
concrete used in bridges, precast structures or foundations.

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 Methodology and Materials

We will use the following procedure in this research.

The tests we are going to conduct in accordance to the significant materials used:

1. Cement:
 Normal consistency of hydraulic cement: the cement’s ability to
maintain its properties in different situations with minimum variation.
 Settling time of hydraulic cement: the time it takes the cement to attain
its strength.
 Fineness of hydraulic cement: determines the mixing property of the
cement.
 Determination of soundness
 Density
2. Sand:
 Silt content of sand: affects the strength of the concrete, therefore we
should clean the sand before proceeding.
 Bulking of sand
3. Aggregate:
 Sieve analysis: to determine the fineness of the aggregate.
 Moisture content of aggregate: minimizes the total strength of the
concrete.
 Unit weight of aggregate: affects the total weight of the concrete.
4. Coal Ash:
 Fineness: determined using sieve analysis. Finds the percentage
distribution of different sizes of the particle.
 Soundness: Acceptable quality
 Water requirement: the water requirement to proceed with the mixing
process
 Mixing capacity
 Density.
5. Concrete:

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  Workability of concrete: the capability of the concrete to be handled, or
shaped. This is checked for the concrete mixed with the coal ash and
without the coal ash.
 Compressive strength of concrete mix with and without coal ash
 Flow table test
 Slump test
The main focus of the study will be on the concrete mix i.e. the compressive
strength, workability, slump test, etc.

Compressive strength test method

% of Coal ash Compressive strength

added After 7 Days After 14 Days After 28 Days
0 3 Samples or 3 Samples or 3 Samples or
greater greater greater
5 3 Samples or 3 Samples or 3 Samples or
greater greater greater
10 3 Samples or 3 Samples or 3 Samples or
greater greater greater
15 3 Samples or 3 Samples or 3 Samples or
greater greater greater
20 3 Samples or 3 Samples or 3 Samples or
greater greater greater
25 3 Samples or 3 Samples or 3 Samples or
greater greater greater
30 3 Samples or 3 Samples or 3 Samples or
greater greater greater
35 3 Samples or 3 Samples or 3 Samples or
greater greater greater
40 3 Samples or 3 Samples or 3 Samples or
greater greater greater

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 Literature Review
Fly ash is a burnt and powdery derivative of inorganic mineral matter that generates
during the combustion of pulverized coal in the thermal power plant. The burnt ash of
the coal contains mostly silica, alumina, calcium and iron as the major chemical
constituents. Depending on the burning temperature of coal, the mineral phases in
crystalline to non-crystalline structures such as quartz (SiO 2), Mullite (3Al2O3.2H2O),
Hematite (Fe2O3), Magnetite (Fe3O4), Wustite (FeO), metallic iron, orthoclase
(K2O.Al2O3 .6SiO2) and fused silicates usually occur in the burnt coal ash.
(Jagadesh S., 2006)

Fly ash particles are predominantly spherical with varying diameters, although it is
not unusual to find some angular particles.

Natuschet al. (1976) classified fly ash particles in four groups:

1. Non-spherical particles which he called ‘‘clinkers’’ and which are

characteristically large and light.
2. Solid spherical particles
3. Cenospheres which may be up to 50µm or larger in diameter
4. Plerospheres

Thorne and watt (1965), and Rehsi (1973) considered that the most important physical
characteristics of fly ash in relation to its activity in concrete is its fineness. The amount
of fly ash passing the 45µm sieve size is a test referred to by most various investigators.

Raask and Bhaskar (1975) also made density fraction separations. Their results
represent studies done within specific size fractions. They found that within each size
fraction the intrinsic strength of the fly ash increased as density increased. Chemical
activity of fly ash was seen to reach a maximum as density increased while ‘‘pozzolanic
strength’’ first increased and then leveled off.

One of the physical methods that are frequently used to estimate the pozzolanic
activity of fly ash involves the concept of fineness. The percentage retention on a
45µm sieve is often inversely related to pozzolanic activity. ASTM (1979) specifies a
maximum of 34 percent to be retained on this sieve.

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Freedaet al. (2010) made study on sample characteristics for different cement ratio
with partial replacement of cement with fly ash and cement mortar with partial
replacement of fine aggregate. With fly ash their observation shows that 10% fly ash
replacement for cement a 1:6 mortar produce the optimum compression strength
result for the brick strength of 3-9N/mm2 in the brick work Freedaet al. concludes
approving the possibility of using fly ash in masonry mortar to improve the long term
bond strength.

The earliest use of fly ash in concrete construction was in massive structure like dams.
In the beginning the advantage derived from this was both of economic and technical
importance. These advantages were supplemented by the fact that strength
development was similar of better at 28 days to that of conventional concrete, despite
the slightly lower strength at earlier stage. (Federico, 1982)

The fly ashes produced by the combustion of coal have been classified by ASTM(C 618-
80, 1979) into two classes which depend directly on which type of coal used. Fly ash
class F is normally produced when anthracite or bituminous coal is burned. Fly ash
class C is normally produced if sub bituminous or lignite coal is burned.

The quality and amount of fly ash are determinant factors in the effects of fly ash on
the strength development of concrete. In a concrete mix fly ash acts as fine aggregate
and as cementitious material, thus it affects all concrete properties (Owens, 1979).
Strength, durability, rheological properties of plastic concrete, workability, and cost
are some of the aspects influenced by fly ash in concrete.

Cabrera and Plowman (1980) proposed two types of simultaneous mechanisms to

explain the effect of fly ash on concrete. The first type is a reduction of water demand
without a decrease in workability due to the shape and particle size distribution of the
fly ash.

Kokubu (1968) studied the effects of temperature and curing conditions on fly ash
concrete. He concluded that cement replacement by fly ash not only avoided the
negative effect of high temperatures on ultimate strength, but at a temperature of
approximately 30˚c strengths for fly ash concrete became higher than those of
conventional concretes within a relatively short period.
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 Cost Break Down
Table 2: cost break down

No Material Quantity Unit price Total price

(Birr) (Birr)
1 Transportation for Materials 1500
2 Photo copy, print and 500
stationary materials
3 Safety materials 4 1500 6000
4 Chemical composition test for
the ash
5 Material cost
 Cement 2qtl 1200 2400
 Coarse aggregate 0.3m3 750 225
 Sand 0.2m3 500 100
6 Miscellaneous 1000
7 Cumulative 11,725
8 10% allowance of the 1,172.5
cumulative
Total 12,897.5

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