STRENGTH OF CONCRETE WITH SPENT BLEACHING EARTH AS

CEMENT REPLACEMENT

L1NA Yl CHONG ANN

A report submitted in partial fulfillment of the

requirements for the award of the degree of
Bachelor of Civil Engineering

Faculty of Civil Engineering and Earth Resources

University Malaysia Pahang

30 NOVEMBER 2010

ABSTRACT

This study is to investigate the compressive and flexural strength of concrete

with partial replacement of 30% and 40% spent bleaching earth (SBE). The field of
studies also covers important parameters in determining the drying shrinkage and the
element of curing condition. A total of 54 cubes (150 x 150 x 150 mm) and 54
prisms (100 x 100 x 500 mm) were prepared in three groups according to different
binder content and the samples were cured under two curing conditions which were
air and water curing for 7, 14 and 28 days before testing. Three types of mixtures
were prepared based on the level of replacement of 30% SBE concrete, 40% SBE
concrete and 100% OPC as the control mixture. The mix ratio is 1:0.6:2.1:3.1
(cement:water:sand:aggregate). The result showed that the 30% spent bleaching earth
mixtures achieved higher compressive and flexural strength than 40% spent
bleaching earth mixture for both curing condition. For air curing, 30% SBE concrete
mixture achieved 8.6MPa of compressive strength and 2.44MPa of flexural strength.
For water curing, 30% SBE concrete mixture achieved 9.89MPa of compressive
strength and 2.76MPa of flexural strength On the other hand, 40% SBE concrete
mixture achieved 8.43MPa of compressive strength and 2.58MPa of flexural strength
under air curing. For water curing, 40% SBE concrete achieved 9.61MPa of
compressive strength and 2.73MPa of flexural strength. The 30% spent bleaching
earth mixture shows highest drying shrinkage strain compared to other mixture in
both curing condition. Through the observation, the spent bleaching earth showed
lower early strength gain but a satisfying improvement of strength as the time
increased. This study offered that the SBE as the new material implementation of
lightweight composite design and construction utilizes existing technologies which
lead to another choice in the current markets for greener environment.

VI

ABSTRAK

Kajian mi bertujuan untuk menentukan kekuatan compressive dan kekuatan

flexural konkrit dengan 30% dan 40% spent bleaching earth (SBE). Kajian im juga
merangkumi parameter dalam menentukan drying shrinkage dan keadaan
pengawetan konkrit tersebut untuk 7, 14, dan 28 han. Sejumlah 54 cubes (150mm x
150mm x 150mm) dan 54 prisms (100mm x 100mm x 500mm) disediakan dalam
tiga kumpulan yang berasingan berdasarkan kandungan peratusan SBE yang
berlainan dan keadaan pengawetan yang berlainan. Campuran 30% SBE, 40% SBE,
dan 100% Ordinary Portland Cement (OPC) disediakan. Nisbah campuran adalah 1;
0.6 2.1 : 3.1 (simen air : pasir : batu). Keputusan kajian menunjukkan 30%
campuran SBE rnencapai kekuatan compressive dan flexural tertinggi berbanding
dengan 40% campuran SBE untuk pengawetan dalam air dan udara Untuk
pengawetan dalan udara, 30% campuran SBE mencatat kekuatan compressive
8.60MPa dan kekuatan flexural 2.44MPa. Manakala pengawetan air; 30% canipuran
SBE mencatat kekuatan compressive 9.89MPa dan kekuatan flexural 2.76MPa 40%
campuran SBE mencatat kekuatan compressive 8.43MPa dan kekuatan flexural
2.73MPa. Di samping itu, 30% SBE juga menunjukkan nilai drying shrinkage yang
tinggi berbanding dengan campuran lain. Berdasarkan penilaiari, SBE menunjukkan
pertambahan kekuatan yang perlahan tetapi mencapai kemajuan kekuatan apabila
masa pengawetan bertambah. Kajian mi menawarkan SBE sebagai bahan baru dalam
teknologi pembinaan ringan. la memberi pilihan yang barn kepada pasaran semasa
dan mesra alam.

vii

TABLE OF CONTENTS

CHAPTER

hum

PAGE

TITLE PAGE

DECLARATION

11

DEDICATION
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
ABSTRACT

111

iv
V

AIBSTRAK

vi

TABLE OF CONTENTS

vii

LIST OF TABLES

LIST OF FIGURES

xi

LIST OF SYMBOLS

xiii

LIST OF APPENDICES

xiv

INTRODUCTION
1.1

Background of study

1.2 Problem of statement

1.3 Objectives

1.4 Scope of work

1.5

Significant of Study

1.6 Summary

VIII

LiTERATURE REVIEW
2.1

Introduction

2.2 Concrete

2.3 Historical development of concrete

2.4 Advantages of concrete

2.5

10

2.4.1 Fire resistant

10

2.4.2 Aesthetic value

11

2.4.3 Ease of use

11

Properties of concrete

12

Durability

12

2.5.2 Drying shrinkage

13

2.5.1

2.5.3

Workability

2.5.4 Compressive strength.

2.5.5

Flexural and tensile strength

2.6 Spent bleaching earth

2.6.1

Types of spent bleaching earth

14
15
16
16
17

2.6.2 Methods extraction of residual oil

from spent bleaching earth

17

2.6.3 Properties of spent bleaching earth

2.6.4 Spent bleaching earth application

18

2.7 Summary
3

19
19

METHODOLOGY
3.1

Introduction

20

3.2 Experimental Programme

21

3.3

Constituent materials

23

3.3.1

23

Cement

3.3.2 River sand

24

3.3.3

24

Spent bleaching earth

3.3.4 Aggregate

25

3.3.5 Water

26

lx
3.4 Apparatus and Test Equipments
3.4.1 Apparatus for mixing, casting and curing

27
27

3.5 Mixing procedure

27

3.6 Compression Test

28

3.7 Flexural Test

29

3.8 Drying Shrinkage Test

30

3.9 Summary

31

RESULT ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSIONS

4.1 Introduction

32

4.2 Data analysis

33

4.3 Compression Test

4.4 Flexural Test

39

4.5

45

Drying Shrinkage

4.6 Summary

50

CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS

5.1 Introduction

si

5.2 Conclusions

52

5.2.1 Compressive Strength

52

5.2.2 Flexural Strength

53

5.2.3 Drying Shrinkage

53

5.3 Recommendations

54

5.4 Summary

55

REFERENCES

56-57

APPENDICES A - E

58-90

LIST OF TABLES

TABLE NO
2.1

TITLE

PAGE

3.1

Chemical Composition of Spent Bleaching Earth

Number of samples to be conducted

28

4.1

Compressive strength (MPa) of mixtures

33

4.2

Flexural strength (MPa) of mixtures

39

4.3

Drying Shrinkage Value for Air Curing

46

4.4

Drying Shrinkage Value for Water Curing

47

18

LIST OF FIGURES

FIGURE NO

TITLE

PAGE

1.1

Cube dimension

1.2

Prism dimension

1.3

Flow chart of study

2.1

History of concrete

10

2.2

Types of SBE (with or without residual oil)

17

3.1

Flow chart of Experimental Progress

22

3.2

Cement

23

3.3

River sand

24

3.4

Spent Bleaching Earth

25

3.5

Aggregate

25

3.6

Water

26

3.7

Compression testing machine

29

3.8

Flexural testing machine

30

4.1

30% SBE Replacement for Air and Water Curing

34

(Compression Test)
4.2

401/6 SBE Replacement for Air and Water Curing

35

(Compression Test)
4.3

100% Portland cement for Air and Water Curing

(Compression Test)

36

xli
4.4

Comparison of Strength Development for Air Curing

(Compression Test)

37

4.5

Comparison of Strength Development for Water Curing

38

(Compression Test)
4.6

30% SBE Replacement for Air and Water Curing

40

(Flexural Test)
4.7

40% SBE Replacement for Air and Water Curing

41

(Flexural Test)
4.8

1001/6 Portland cement for Air and Water Curing

(Flexural Test)

42

4.9

Comparison of Strength Development for Air Curing

43

(Flexural Test)
4.10

Comparison of Strength Development for Water Curing

(Flexural Test)

44

4.11

Comparison of Shrinkage Value for Air Curing

48

(Drying Shrinkage)
4.12

Comparison of Shrinkage Value for Water Curing

(Drying Shrinkage)

49

xlii

LIST OF SYMBOLS

percent

degree Celcius

BS

British Standard

SBE

Spent Bleaching Earth

liMP

Universiti Malaysia Pahang

FKASA

Fakulti Kejuruteraan Awam & Sumber Alam

ASTM

American Society for Testing and Materials

MS

Malaysia Standard

mm

millimeter

kg

kilogram

OPC

Ordinary Portland cement

MPa

Mega Pascal

W/C

water per cement

xiv

LIST OF APPENDICES

APPENDIX
A

TITLE
BS 4551: Part 1: 1998 (Table 3: Percentages of Fraction of

PAGE
58

Standards Fine Aggregate (sand) s and

Table 4: Composition of Laboratory Mixes)
B

EN 1992-2:2005 (E) Section 3.0: Concrete Materials And

61

Section 3.2.2.1: Concrete under Compressive Strength

C

Concrete Mixed Design Calculation

66

Spent Bleaching Earth

75

Compression Result

77

Flexural Result

79

Drying Shrinkage Result

81

Gantt Chart of Study

88

CHAPTER 1

INTRODUCTION

1.1

Background of Study

Nowadays, there were many challenges facing the industry today including
enhancing quality and productivity besides high labour and material prices, inefficient
and ineffective methods and practices, inability to attract and develop local workforce,
inability to provide total integrated solutions and difficulty in securing timely and
adequate funding. Construction Industry Master Plan (CIMP) Malaysia was developed
to transform the industry to be more efficient and productive in delivering high quality
products and services and move towards being more committed to environmentally
sustainable development. Concrete was a manmade building material that looks like
stone. The origins of concrete can be traced back to the Babylonians, who used a claymix similar to concrete. However, the modern-day form of concrete was not invented till
1756, when British engineer John Smeaton pioneered the use of cement in concrete.

Recycled materials were becoming more popular as ingredients in concrete due

to higher public awareness about ecological sustainability and environmental damage.
The new invented of new concrete mixture using the waste materials is now being
practiced in order to improve the wastage produced in Malaysia to become wealth and
applicable used in the construction buildings. One of the waste materials used in this
study is the spent bleaching earth (SBE) in mixture which has potential to become one of
the mixtures in concrete due to its high physical strength and gives less effect to the
concrete.

1.2

Problem statement

There are lots of problems that the Malaysian construction industry faces which
will effects to the productivity of construction industry. It caused by manpower, quality
of productivity and time. In this age of rising cost of building materials and labor is
another problem which makes it imperative to study the systematic application of new
construction materials and systems. In this study, it can offer many advantages which
practice the waste material to become wealth towards greater development of IBS
components and promote easier concrete mix construction methods, replacing use of
reinforcing bar significantly use in the Malaysian construction industry. Spent bleaching
earth (SBE) is the extraction of residual oil from palm oil refining industry. Besides that,
large quantity of SBE is disposed off in landfills, causing fire and pollution hazards due
to the substantial oil content in the earth. By using the material with concrete mixture, it
can be one of the solutions to overcome the problems above in the construction industry.


3
1.3

Objectives

The main objective of this research investigation was to study the development
of concrete strength. Towards achieving the above mentioned aim, the related objectives
associated were identified as follows:
i.

To determine the compressive and flexural strength of concrete with partial

replacement of cement

ii.

To investigate the crack pattern of concrete with 30% and 40% SBE

iii.

To study the effect on concrete under different curing condition

1.4 Scope of Work

This study was investigated the compressive and flexural strength of concrete
with partial replacement of cement. There were 108 cubes for the testing specimen.
The dimension at each of the cube was 150mm x 150mm x 150mm and prism was
100mm x 100mm x 500mm with the percentage SBE of 30% and 40%. Three types
of samples Al, A2 and A3 were tested for cube and Bi, B2 and B3 were tested for
prism; concrete mix 30% and 40% of SBE, and control sample containing 100%
OPC respectively. Selection materials for this project were including SBE,
aggregates, sand, cement, water and plywood as formwork. Compression and
flexural test were used to determine the strength at 7, 14 and 28 days. The specimens
were casted using mix ratio of 1:0.6:2.1:3.1 (cement:water:sand:aggregate) and
concrete strength is design at 2 SN/mm2 . All tests were conducted at Faculty of Civil
Engineering and Earth Resources Concrete Lab, University Malaysia Pahang
(UMP). Code of practice for this test was based on BS EN 12390-3 Testing hardened
concrete: Compressive Strength of test specimens, BS EN 12390-4 Testing hardened
concrete: Compressive Strength: Specification of testing machine and BS EN 12390-

4
5 Testing hardened concrete: Flexural Strength of test specimens. After testing, the

experimental result obtained need to be analyzed and interpreted accordingly.

Typical examples of graph usually plotted using Microsoft Excel.

150mm

[50mm
150mm
Figure 1.1 Cube dimension

100mm
4

100mm
150mm
Figure 1.2 Prism dimension

Design Prototype of
concrete model

Selection of Materials

Construction of Specimen

Construction of Specimen and

Instrumentation
Experimental Set-up

Testing on Specimen

Experimental Results
YES
Writing the Report

Submission of Report

Figure 1.3: Flow chart of Study

NO

1.5

Significant of Study

The research and its findings were used to encourage the use of the new
approach to produce concrete composite elements for industrialized building system and
hence promoting better quality construction and innovative system in our construction
industry. This study surely was a step forward in the right direction to achieve quality
products. In this study, it uses the waste material to become wealth in the construction
industry which was very less practices in Malaysia. Therefore, this study was using SBE
as the waste material on recycling the earth waste material to become useful and giving
benefits to the construction industry for greener environment. The study also indicates
the effects of crack pattern on OPC concrete with SBE as partial replacement material of
concrete. Other than that, the wastage of SBE will be reduced at oil palm industry at
other advantages.

1.6

Summary

Nowadays, construction is looking forward for a high quality, high performance,

high strength and high durability but in an optimum quantity and quality. By using
concrete added with SBE, all of these characteristics and benefits may be achieved. Plus,
it was superior environmental friendliness due to ecological disposal of large quantities
of SBE. Hence, concrete with SEE has the potential to be future replacement of current
concrete.

CHAPTER 2

LITERATURE REVIEW

2.1

Introduction

In this chapter, the engineering properties and performance of concrete were

reviewed and presented from the primary resources of published material such as
journals, articles, books and research papers. The selected published materials were
read related to the concrete in the engineering properties of concrete and spent
bleaching earth on its existing application done by the other researchers. Concrete
was a construction material that consists of, in its most common form, cement,
aggregate, sand, and water. Concrete is the most highly used manmade product on
Earth. In building construction industry, conventional concrete made with natural
aggregate from hard rock has a high density lies within the range of 2200 to
2260kg/rn3 and represents a large proportion of the dead load on a structure.

2.2

Concrete

Concrete was the most widely used manmade product in the world. It powers
a $35 billion industry, one of the largest on Earth. Concrete was used to make a
variety of structures which you use every day. It was used to make pavements,
building structures, foundations, motorways/roads, overpasses, parking structures,
brick/block walls and footings for gates, fences and poles. Approximately six billion
cubic metres of concrete were produced every year, which was one cubic metre per
person on Earth.
The composition of concrete was traditionally relatively simple. However,
modem concrete was often a complicated mix, ensuring durability and longevity.
Cement was the main ingredient in concrete. Ordinary Portland cement was the most
common cement in circulation, which was just a basic mix of mortar and plaster.
Water was another ingredient in the manufacture of concrete. The w/c ratio
(mass ratio of water to cement) was the key factor that determines the strength of
Concrete. A lower w/c ratio will yield a concrete which is stronger, while a higher
w/c ratio yields a concrete with a lower strength. Water also affects the workability
and consistency of a concrete. This water and cement paste hardens over time, and
both fine and coarse aggregates are added to provide bulk Widely used aggregates
include sand, gravel and crushed stone. Decorative stones such as, small river stones
or crushed glass are sometimes added to the surface of concrete for a decorative
"exposed aggregate" finish, popular among landscape designers.

2.3

Historical development of concrete

The first comprehensive review on cellular concrete was presented by Valore

in 1954 summarizing the composition, properties and uses of cellular concrete,
irrespective of the method of formation of the cell structure (RC. Valore, 1954). The
Romans used a primal mix for their concrete. It consisted of small gravel and coarse
sand mixed with hot lime and water, and sometimes even animal blood. To trim
down shrinkage, they were known to have used horsehair. Historical evidence states
that the Assyrians and Babylonians used clay as the bonding material. Even ancient
Egyptians were believed to have used lime and gypsum cement for concrete. Lime
mortars and gypsums were also used in building the world-acclaimed pyramids.
Over six billion tons of concrete was produced each year, and was the second
most widely used substance. The application of concrete in civil engineering works
was very broad as it can be used in almost every parts of building from the
superstructure right down to the substructure. For examples, dams, bridges,
swimming pools, homes, streets, patios, basements, pavement blocks, drain covers
and benches. The use of concrete is popular in other countries such Europe, Japan
and United Kingdom, Besides that higher educational institutions namely Universiti
Teknologi MARA (UiTM), Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM) and Kolej Universiti
Teknologi Tun Hussein Orin (KUiTTHO) have embarked on the research and
development programmed related to concrete. Such concerted efforts would help the
country becoming an industrialized nation through comprehensive and wellstructured exploratory programmed on new concrete.

'U

Figure 2.1 History of concrete

2.4 Advantages of concrete

The usage of concrete offer many benefits and advantageous compared to

other materials such as steel and timber. Concrete was characterized by its high
compressive strength and low tensile strength. Other advantages of concrete were as
below:

2.4.1 Fire resistant

Concrete was naturally fire-resistant. Concrete buildings typically qualify for

reduced fire insurance rates up to 60 percent less on fire and extended coverage for
warehouses and storage buildings. If fire does occur, concrete walls and partitions
effectively divide the building into compartments, separating areas and limiting the
amount of property damage.

I
2.4.2 Aesthetic value

Today's concrete technologies provide innovative solutions for architectural

interest and versatility in design. Besides that, new colouring admixtures provide
attractive, economical alternatives to exterior finishing. And concrete was adaptable
to a variety of surface treatments and shapes resulting in structures that set graciously
into any environment.

2.4.3 Ease of use

The concrete mixture was feasible and concreted surfaces were resistant to
freezing and wear. Furthermore, concrete buildings have a longer life expectancy.
They also were weather-tight, require lower maintenance and have greater resale
value than other structures.

2.5

Properties of Concrete

2.5.1 Durability

A long service life was considered synonymous with durability. According to

AC! Committee 201, durability of Portland cement concrete was defined as its ability
to resist weathering action, chemical attack, abrasion, or any other process of
deterioration (ACI Committee 201, 2002). Concrete has to be durable in natural
environments ranging from mild to extremely aggressive and resistant to factors such
as weathering, freeze/thaw attack, chemical attack and abrasion. According to the
Gambler presented in 2006 which most of the durability problems in the concrete can
be attributed to the volume change in the concrete even though concrete was durable
material requiring a little or no maintenance in normal environment (ML Gambler,
2006).
Concrete has tendency to be permeable as a result of the caplillary voids in
the cement paste matrix. (3arboczi reviewed several theories that attempt to relate the
microstructural parameters of cement product with either diffusivity or permeability
(Garboczi et. al. 1990). For material like concrete with numerous microcracks, a
satisfactory fluid transport property factor was difficult to determine because of the
effect of unpredictable changes in the pore structure upon penetration of a fluid from
outside. In general, when the water-cement ratio was high and the degree of
hydration was low, the cement paste will have a high capillary porosity.

I.,

2.51 Drying shrinkage

The shrinkage that takes place after the concrete has set and hardened was
called drying shrinkage and most of it takes place in the first few month. In the other
meaning, shrinkage was the decrease of concrete volume with time. This decrease
was due to changes in the moisture content of the concrete and physicochemical
changes, which occur without stress attributable to actions external to the concrete.
Shrinkage can be class into two types; plastic shrinkage and drying shrinkage. Plastic
shrinkage was occurred during the first few hours after fresh concrete was placed.
While drying shrinkage occurs after the concrete has already attained its final set and
a good portion of the chemical hydration process in the cement gel has been
accomplished.
One of the factors that contributed to shrinkage occurs was the aggregate
used as mentioned by Neville, the affect of aggregate leads to less shrinkage in
concrete than mortar, which does not contained coarse aggregate (Neville, 1995). For
the usual range of concretes, the reversible moisture movement represents about
400/o-70% of the drying shrinkage. Schubert was reported to reduce the drying
shrinkage significantly by 12-50% of that of moist-cured concrete (due to a change
in mineralogical compositions) and was essential if the products are required within
acceptable level of strength and shrinkage (P. Schubert, 1983).

2.53 Workability

Workability was a physical property of concrete alone without reference to

the circumstances of a particular type of construction. It was determined the ease of
placement and the resistance to segregation. According to the Mehta, the
consideration for workability of concrete mixture are the water requirement for a
given consistency increase with both sand or coarse aggregate ratio and the amount
of the fines in the sand. The cohesiveness and finish ability of concrete should be
improved by increasing the sand or coarse aggregate ratio alone rather than by
increasing the proportion of fine particles in the sand (Metha et. al. 2006).
P. Kumar also state that the consideration for workability of concrete mixture
required high consistency at the time of placement, the uses of water-reducing and
set-retarding admixture should be considered rather than add an extra water. This
was because of water that has not been accounted for in the mixture proportioning
was contributed the failure of concrete to perform according to design specifications
(P.Kumar et. al. 2006).
The presence of excess mixing water, under mixing and over mixing was
common causes of many problems related to physical properties of concrete in
plastic and hardened state. It was also known that the presence of voids in concrete
reduces the density and greatly reduces the strength: 5% of voids can lower the
strength by as much as 30%. The strength of concrete was adversely and
significantly affected by the presence of voids in the compacted mass, it was vital to
achieve a maximum possible density. This required sufficient workability for
virtually full compaction to be possible using a reasonable amount of work under the
given conditions.