STUDY OF THE PERFORMANCE OF RICE HUSK ASH (RHA) IN CONCRETE

PRODUCING IN DIFFERENT TEMPERATURE

1. Introduction
1.1. Background study

A few hundred million tonnes of rice paddy are cultivated each year as a key food
supply for billions of people worldwide. Rice husks generate a significant amount of
waste each year, with an estimated 100 million tonnes produced annually. According
to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, Malaysia's rice paddy
production in 2010 was 2.4 million tonnes, 2.5 million tonnes in 2011, 2.6 million
tonnes in 2012, and roughly 2.6 million tonnes in 2013. (FAO, 2015). Rice husk, an
agro-waste, is being created at a rate of 0.52 tonnes per year. Because of the sheer
volume of agro-waste generated, its proper disposal is a significant environmental
concern. Typically, the rice husk is either burned in the open air or deposited in a
landfill, both of which result in a massive release of CO2 into the atmosphere (Kartini,
2011).

The public and related sectors were concerned about the rising demand for building
materials. The problem is not only a lack of building supplies, but also a huge
environmental impact. Cement companies and the government worked together to
come up with a variety of solutions. Reusing agricultural and industrial production
byproducts is one of them. Rice husk, jute fibre, coconut husk, and other agro-waste
products are some examples (Maduwar, Ralegaonkar & Mandavgane, 2012). These
agrowastes can be repurposed for use in the construction industry. Reusing such agro-
waste not only reduces environmental degradation, but also alleviates the problem of
disposing of agro-waste. In Malaysia, the agro-waste created by the cement industry
and agro-waste can be used to decrease environmental challenges and achieve
sustainable development.

1.2. Problem statement

Due to Malaysia's rapid population increase, food demand is increasing. Plantation

growth in Malaysia has resulted in substantial agro-waste and environmental concerns.
Malaysia's main food source is rice, and rice milling produces 22% of rice husk. Rice
husk is an abundant agro-waste that pollutes the environment. However, both methods
produce enormous amounts of CO2 into the environment. Concrete technologists are
researching ways to reduce CO2 emissions from cement manufacture by using
supplemental cementitious materials (SCM). Previous research shows that burning rice
husk produces rice husk ash (RHA). RHA has the physical and chemical properties of
mineral admixtures (Zain et al., 2010). RHA can improve concrete strength and reduce
water absorption (Tashima, 2004). Using rice husk as an agro-waste properly reduces
environmental issues and CO2 emissions by reducing cement production.

1.3. Objectives
• To optimize the replacement ratio of rice husk ash in blended cement
• To determine the feasibility of using rice husk ash in concrete
• To analyse the properties of Furnace Incinerated Rice Husk Ash with different
temperatures.

1.4. Contribution/ Significance of study

This study will be carried out to investigate the effectiveness of using rice husk ash as
a replacement of cement for engineering purposes. There are about three significant
factors that are related on this study such as engineering factor, environmental factor
and economic factor. For engineering factor, if the use of rice husk ash is compatible
then it could be an alternative to replace the high demand of cement from various
sectors where it is a finite source which can deplete in the future time and shortage of
cement leads to another problem. Then, the related this study on environmental factor
is pollution from producing the cement because it emits large amount of CO2 and this
can be reduce which directly produced sustainable development and protect the
environment. In economic factor, it can been seen from cost reduction in construction
for material cost as it replace with organic substance as its cement. Based on the
previous studies, the result show that using the rice husk ash in the concrete generally
increases resistance to chloride and sulphate attack, decreases the hydration
temperature, decreases the permeability of the hardened concrete. However, there are
limited studies on using rice husk ash as supplementary binder of cement for concrete
construction. So, this study will help strengthen the proof of effectiveness of using rice
husk ash as supplementary binder in concrete.
 1.5. Scope and limitations ????
The parameters of the study are including the temperature of producing rice husk ash,
composition of rice husk ash, replacement ratio of cement with rice husk ash, compressive
strength of concrete and microstructure of concrete. The collected rice husk was burned in the
furnace by using the temperature of 600 °C and 700 °C. After that the rice husk ash was
tested using FTIR machine to examine the composition. Other researchers found that the
optimum replacement ratio would be 10 %. Therefore, this study replaced cement with rice
husk ash in concrete design with the ratio of 0.0 %, 2 %, 4 %, 6 %, 8%, 10% and 12.0 %. The
concrete had complied Grade- 40 concrete design. Mechanical properties of the concrete
were tested within the range of 3, 7, 28 days according to the normal concrete testing period.
The compressive strengths of the concrete samples were also tested.

Meanwhile, this study has potential limitations.

2 Literature review
2.1 Introduction

In Malaysia, the supply of cement is still meets the demand but the price of cement has
increased. In other word, cement can be considered as the most expensive material in the
construction industry. On the other hand, production of cement is also caused depletion of
natural sources and generate large amount of CO2 into the atmosphere. It has been reported
that to produce a ton of cement will generates approximately a ton of CO2 greenhouse gas
(Mehta, 1994). Reuse of agricultural waste as a supplementary material in construction is
suggested to be a way to sustain the natural resources, reduce greenhouse gases emission and
also lower down the environmental impact by the disposal of agricultural waste. Reuse of
agricultural waste is suitable apply in agrobased developing country such as Malaysia. Rice
Husk is an agricultural waste generated after the rice milling process and about hundred
million tons of the 740 million tons of rice produced annually worldwide (FAO, 2015). The
pozzolanic effect of RHA has been reported by many researchers. RHA is potential to be used
as supplementary cementitous materials. The related information of RHA and concrete will
be discussed further in this chapter.
2.2. Concrete

Due to its unique qualities, concrete is the most often used building material worldwide. A
mixture of cement, water, and aggregates is used to create it (Gambhir, 2004). The
Yugoslavia's concrete history may be dated back to 7000 years ago (Hunt, 2000). Modern
concrete is the result of thousands of years of improvement and combination of concrete
ingredients.

2.3 Cement
Cement is an adhesive and cohesive binder that is commonly used in construction. To keep
the various components of concrete together, it acts as a binder. Using cement, the fine and
coarse aggregates are incorporated into a single mass that fills up the spaces between them
(Gambhir, 2004).

2.4 Rice Husk Ash (RHA)

Rice husk is the rice paddies outermost layer, covering around 20% to 25% of the
rice's weight. Research on RHA's pozzolanic properties has been ongoing for the past few
decades. In order to remove volatile organic carbon, such as cellulose and lignin, raw rice
husk is burned into ash to produce RHA. Per kg, it has a surface area of between 50 000
and 100 000 m2 (Gambhir, 2004). In terms of particle size, RHA is a very small substance,
with most particles measuring between 5 and 10 microns (Evi et al, 2014). Silica is the
primary component of RHA (85% to 90%), and it has a micro-porous structure that makes
it ideal for replacing cement. RHA's amorphous silica reacts with the crystallised calcium
hydroxide that forms during the hydration process of concrete to produce RHA. Concrete's
pore structure is filled with secondary C-S-H gel. To further enhance interlocking between
concrete particles, RHA can help fill the gaps between cement particles (Hesami, Ahmadi
& Nematzadeh, 2013). As a result, a denser and higher strength can be produced

Silica and RHA's reactivity are affected by the conditions under which they are
incinerated. RHA's reactivity can be influenced by a variety of factors, including its
fineness. When compared to Portland cement, RHA is finer and less reactive, but it can
scatter in the mixture and form a large number of nucleation sites for the precipitation of
CH, which is known as pozzolanic reactions because of this. It produces a more dense and
homogenous concrete as a result of this reaction (Isaia, Gastaldini & Moraes, 2003). In
 concrete, the presence of RHA can lower the permeability, enhance the w/c ratio, improve
the packing density, and boost cement hydration (Sumadi & Lee, 2008). Chemical and
physical features of RHA have a direct impact on the mechanical qualities of concrete. In
Tables 2.4.1 and 2.4.2, numerous studies have provided information on RHA's chemical
and physical properties.

Table 2.1. Chemical properties of RHA (Weight percentage)

SiO2 Al2O3 Fe2O3 CaO MgO SO3 Na2O K2O References
87.20 0.15 0.16 0.55 0.35 0.24 1.12 3.68 Mehta, 1992
87.30 0.15 0.16 0.55 0.35 0.24 1.12 3.68 Zhang et al.,

1996
86.98 0.84 0.73 1.40 0.57 0.11 2.46 - Bui et al.,

2005
97.50 0.73 1.18 0.18 - 0.49 0.10 1.39 Sumadi &

Lee, 2008

Table 2.2. Physical properties of RHA

Specific gravity Mean particle size Fineness: passing References

(g/cm3) (µm) 45µm (%)

2.06 - 99 Mehta, 1992
2.06 - 99 Zhang et al., 1996
2.10 7.4 - Bui et al., 2005
0.90 - 96 Sumadi & Lee,

2008

2.5. Production of rice husk ash

Properties and characteristics of a material are closely related to that of the parent material and
the methods and techniques of its production. This also applies to rice husk ash. Rice husk ash
(RHA) is a material produced by the burning of rice husk either through open field burning or
under incineration conditions in which temperature and duration are controlled. Open field
burning is not encouraged because of pollution problems and it also produces poor quality rice
husk ash. The RHA produced from open burning has high carbon content which adversely
affect concrete performance and also results in a structure of highly crystalline form that is of
low reactivity (Hwang and Chandra, 2016). Thus the RHA in the amorphous form of silica
with has the potential to be used for structural concrete is produced through controlled
incineration conditions (temperature and duration). Various incineration processes have been
used researchers to produce RHA. It is obvious many ash production methodologies and each
has got its own merits and demerits. However, incinerating conditions essentially control the
quality of RHA, especially amorphous form, which is needed for structural concrete.
 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

PREPARATION OF RAW MATERIAL

PREPARATION OF RICE HUSK ASH MATERIAL FOR CONCRETE

• Collecting rice husk from local rice • Rice Husk Ash.
paddies • Ordinary Portland cement
• Cleaned the rice husk with water to • Sand
remove the dirt • Coarse Aggregate
• The rice husk then being sun dried for 24 • Plasticizer
hours. • Water
• The dried rice husk then was taken in
crucible and placed it in electrical furnace
for 5 h at 400°C to get a black ash.
• Then the ash was ground into powder and
later heated again at 600°C 5 h complete
combustion.

PERCENTAGE USE
• Rice Husk Ash percentage being
substitute to cement weight.
• 0%, 2%, 4%, 6%, 8%, 10%, 12%.

BATCHING AND MIXING

• The concrete being casted into 150mm

x 150mm mould.
• The concrete being cured by water.

TESTING & ANALYSIS

• Testing for compressive strength
and tensile strength.
• Age of concrete for 7, 28 and 91
days.
4.0. Expected result

4.1. Compressive strength

Compressive Strength of 7RHA

mixed concrete
40.0
38.0
0 0.0%
36.0
0 0
34.0
0 2.5%
32.0
0 0
5.0%
30.0
0 0
7.5%
28.0
0
0
10.0%
26.0
0
24.0
0 0
22.0
0
20.0
0
0 3 8 1 1 2 2
3Time, 8 3 8
days

Figure 4.1 Compressive strength of 7RHA

Figure 4.1 shows RHA burned at 700°C with various cement replacement ratios and curing
ages. On day 3, the four samples of partial replacement of RHA show lower compressive
strength than concrete with 0% RHA. The gradual pozzolanic reaction of the silica and CH in
the concrete causes the early strength loss (Shatat, 2013). According to Givi et al. (2010), the
pozzolanic reaction takes a week to begin, resulting in more permeable concrete early on. The
delayed reaction may be owing to the RHA's silica component, which can only be broken down
by the pore water's alkalinity (Sumadi & Lee, 2008). For 28 days, the compressive strength
ranking was 5% > 0% > 7.5% > 10% > 2.5%. The compressive strength of 7.5 and 10% partial
replacement concrete is slightly lower than normal concrete. Similar to Bie et al. (2015), the
compressive strength of samples with a cement replacement ratio above 5% was lower than the
control concrete sample.
 40.00
Compressive Strength of 6RHA
38.00
concrete
36.00
34.00
32.00
Control
30.00
2.5wt% 6RHA
28.00
5.0wt% 6RHA
26.00
7.5wt% 6RHA
24.00
10wt% 6RHA
22.00
20.00
3 8 13 18 23 28
Time, days

Figure 4.2 Compressive strength of 6RHA

Figure 4.2 illustrates the compressive strength of concrete with RHA added at 600°C. Several
researchers claim that silica produced by burning of RHA below 700°C is only amorphous.
Amorphous silica is a highly reactive silica capable of pozzolanic reaction with hydration's
hydroxide product. The sample with 5.0 percent RHA had a compressive strength higher than
the control at early stage, indicating that the RHA in the concrete mixture promoted early
strength gain. Bie et al. (2015) attribute the higher strength to the RHA's amorphous silica
component and high specific surface area. The increased compressive strength than
conventional concrete is due to the RHA silica reacting with the hydration product in the
concrete (pozzolanic reaction). The secondary C-S-H gel is formed when silica combines with
calcium hydroxide. C-S-H gel will fill the concrete capillary pores. The C-S-H gel refines the
concrete's pores, increasing compressive strength. Compressive strength of 2.5 percent RHA
mixed concrete is low compared to other samples. This could be because the silica in the
concrete mix isn't strong enough. Because just a little amount of CH was produced by the
pozzalanic reaction, the amount of C-S-H gel generated was limited (Habeeb et al., 2010). This
is caused to too much silica in the concrete and too little cement. Because the silica content is
larger than the hydration product, there is not enough CH to react with it, making it an inert
ingredient that has no influence on concrete strength. The extra silica leached away, resulting
in a weakness (Shatat, 2013, Habeeb et al., 2010).
4.2. Tensile strength

It was shown that the 28-day splitting tensile strength improved by as much as 17.65 percent
and 28 percent, respectively, when the RHA concentration was increased up to 15%, but then
decreased to roughly 5.88 percent of the control specimens when the RHA content was
increased by 20%. The splitting tensile strength, on the other hand, is only approximately 10%
as strong as the compressive one. However, with 10% RHA replacement, the results of Khassaf
et al. (2014) showed a rise in the 28-day period. Splitting tensile strength at 20% replacement
began to outperform the control after 56 days, according to the researchers' findings. Water-
cement ratio may also alter the strength of concrete containing RHA, according to previous
research.

It is clear from the plot in Fig. 4.2.1. that the splitting tensile strength of specimens with RHA
rose up to 5% replacement in the study conducted by Abalaka (2013) and thereafter fell for
water-cement ratios of 0.40 and 0.45. However, the splitting tensile strength increased up to
10% replacement level and subsequently declined at water-cement ratios of 0.5 and 0.55.

Having enough free water to keep the strength-forming hydration process going helps RHA
concrete function better at greater water-cement ratios. RHA's porous porosity may cause
hydration to stop at lower water-cement ratios because it absorbs some of the mixed water.
5.0. Conclusion

In conclusion, rice husk ash can be utilised to use as supplementary binder for cement. There
are two problem related on this study as mention before. First, there is a huge demand for
cement as it the main component for making concrete. While on the other hand, there is a
problem of disposal of waste by-products such as rice husk from paddy field. By utilised rice
husk ash as supplementary binder for concrete, it helps to give effective solution to handle two
problems at the same time. Other than that, it also gives benefit in terms of engineering,
economic and environmental. Thus, this study is suitable to apply on any construction sites.
Lastly, this study also will help the future of the engineering construction to achieve
sustainability, green concept and eco-friendly construction.
6.0 References
Hunt, K., 2000. NEW “HERITAGE MATERIALS”. MATERIAL EVIDENCE
Conserving historic building fabric.

Hwang, C.L., Bui, L.A. & Chen, C.T., 2011. Effects of rice husk ash on the strength
and durability characteristics of concrete. Construction and Building Materials,
25, pp. 3768-3772.

Isaia, G.C., Gastaldini, A.L.G. & Moraes, R., 2003. Physical and pozzolanic action
of mineral additions on the mechanical strength of high-performance concrete.
Cement and Concrete Composites, 25(1), pp. 69–76.

Jamil, M., Kaish, A.B.M.A., Rahman, S.N. & Zain, M.F.M., 2013. Pozzolanic
contribution of rice husk ash in cementitious system. Construction and Building
Materials.

Karim, M.R., Zain, M.F.M., Jamil, M., Lai, F.C. & Islam, M.N., 2012. Strength of
Mortar and Concrete as Influenced by Rice Husk Ash. World Applied Sciences
Journal, 19 (10).

Kartini, K., 2011. RICE HUSK ASH – POZZOLANIC MATERIAL FOR

SUSTAINABILITY. International Journal of Applied Science and
Technology, 1(6).

Khan, R., Jabbar, A., Ahmad, I., Khan, W., Khan, A.N. & Mirza, J., 2011.
Reduction in environmental problems using rice-husk ash in concrete.
Construction and Building Materials. ISSN 0950-0618. Elsevier Science.

Hesami, S., Ahmadi, S. & Nematzadeh, M., 2013. Effects of rice husk ash and fiber
on mechanical properties of pervious concrete pavement. Construction and
Building Materials 53, pp. 680-691.

Shatat, M.R., 2013. Hydration behaviour and mechanical properties of blended

cement containing various amount of rice husk ash in presence of metakaolin.
Arabian Journal of Chemistry.
 6.0 Gantt chart
No. Weeks 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12

Descriptions
1. Identify Research Topic

2. Background of Study
Problem Statement
Objectives
Significant of Study
Scope and Limitation
3. Literature Review

4. Methodology

5. Data Collection

6. Expected Results

7. Conclusion

8. Preparation of Final Report

9. Submission of Final Report