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Compressive strength characateristics of

bamboo leaf ash blended cement concrete

Conference Paper · June 2015

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COMPRESSIVE STRENGTH CHARACTERISTICS OF BAMBOO LEAF ASH
BLENDED CEMENT CONCRETE

John Temitope Kolawole

Department of Building, Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Nigeria
kolawolejt@yahoo.com; kolawolej@oauife.edu.ng

Kolapo Olubunmi Olusola

Department of Building, Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Nigeria

Brief author biography

John Temitope Kolawole received a university Bachelor of Science degree (B.Sc.) in
building at Obafemi Awolowo University and he is currently on a Master’s degree program
in Building Structures at the same university. He works as an academic at the
Department of Building, Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Nigeria. His research focus
is on sustainable alternatives to Portland cement in concrete production.

Introduction

In the cement industry, continuous attempts are being made to reduce the cost of
production of Portland cement and consumption of raw materials, energy expense,
protect the environment and enhance quality of cement. Ordinary Portland cement is one
of the most important building materials in terms of quantity produced [1, 2].

Since it is produced at a high temperature (1500 0C), it consumes a lot of energy,

emitting harmful gases and polluting the atmosphere (Metz et al., 2007), therefore, an
alternative to its use is a matter of urgency. One way of achieving this is to use certain
low cost materials for partial replacement of Portland cement in concrete production [3].
Also, there has been an increase in prices of houses over the last century, arising mainly
from escalating prices of building materials and has caused a shortfall in the provision of
adequate housing in Nigeria and globally [4]. Hence, alternatives to conventional building
materials have been focus of most researches recently and their suitability as local
materials for building construction purposes [5, 6, 7].

This work focuses on the use of bamboo leaf ash (BLA) as a partial replacement of the
conventional concrete binder namely cement. Also, the recent clamour for green,
sustainable buildings and eco-friendly construction materials aims at reducing the
production of harmful gases that pollutes the environment and minimizing waste that
litters the environment. Utilization of such agricultural waste like bamboo leaves serve as
an effective method of minimizing waste generated, saving energy and ensuring
sustainability in the built environment.

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Materials and method

This research aimed at investigating the compressive strength properties of bamboo leaf
ash blended cement concrete with a view to ascertaining the suitability of bamboo leaf
ash as a pozzolanic material in concrete. The study experimentally determined the
characteristics of bamboo leaf ash, assessed the effects of varying percentage
composition of BLA and curing age on the compressive strength characteristics of BLA
blended cement concrete.

In determining the compressive strength, a total of 72, 100mm x 100mm x 100mm

concrete cubes were cast from mixes containing BLA contents of 0%, 5%, 10%, 15%,
20% and 25% as partial replacement for ordinary Portland cement (OPC). Bamboo leafs
collected were sun dried and thereafter burnt into ashes in a drum and spread on a clean
removable surface for quick cooling. The resulting ashes was then grinded and sift with
212 µm sieve and thereafter burnt further in a furnace up to 8000C. A targeted strength
of 25 N/mm2 was adopted to determine the proportion of the different components.
Manual mixing was done after which slump test was carried out in testing the workability
of the mixed concrete before casting. Water curing was done for 7, 14, 28 and 56 days.
Three replicates were used. Experimental results gotten were analyzed using tables,
graphs and analysis of variance (ANOVA).

Various tests carried out include aggregates’ sample grading, moisture content and
relative density, BLA X-ray diffraction analysis, chemical properties of BLA, workability of
freshly mixed concrete and compressive strength test of cube specimens.

Results and discussion

A relative density of 1.50 was gotten for the used sand while 2.00 was gotten for the
granite. An X-ray diffractometer (XRD) using CuKα radiation based on De Bragg’s
principle was used allowing an error margin of ± 0.03, compounds detected include KO 3,
Fe2O3, SiO2, TiO2 and TiO3. BLA chemical properties were also determined using X-ray
fluorescence (XRF), result gotten is displayed in Table 1. The result of the XRF is far
better than that of XRD.

Slump test carried out was to ensure that the mixed concrete achieves a desired medium
workability of value between 50 mm and 100 mm. It was done in accordance to the
requirement of BS EN 12350-2: 2009. No admixture was used to enhance workability. It
was observed that the higher OPC partial replacement with BLA, the higher the water
required to achieve required slump. This implies that BLA as a pozzolanic material
requires more water to facilitate its hydration. The average results of compressive
strengths gotten for various OPC partial replacements with BLA and different curing ages
in water are summarized in Table 2.
Table 2 shows that for all the cement replacement levels, there is an increase in
compressive strength with time (curing age). This is due to the fact that concrete
strength increases with age and BLA as a pozzolan reacts with lime [Ca(OH) 2] produced
from the hydration process of cement to form Calcium Silicate Hydrate (CSH) mainly
responsible for concrete strength. In contrary, compressive strength of the blended
cement concrete reduces generally as the BLA content increase. However, concrete with
5% and 10% BLA content performed favourably than other replacement levels. Likewise,
Fig. 1 below affirms these statements. But BLA content of 10% performs best after that
of the control with its plotline slightly above that of 5% and a R 2 of 0.984. Hence, 10%

84
BLA can be taken as optimum, implying that ordinary Portland cement can be effectively
replaced with 10% bamboo leaf ash in concrete production.

Conclusion

By and large, observed results showed that:

 The higher the BLA content, the higher the water/cement ratio required to achieve
required workability.

 The higher the percentage replacement of cement with BLA, the lower the
compressive strength characteristics of the resulting concrete.

 The optimum replacement percentage is 10% and the pozzolanic effect of the BLA
takes maximum effect at the later days of hydration (28 and 56 days).

 Hence, BLA blended cement concrete is suitable for construction purposes when
later days strength is required.

Figures and tables

Table 1: Chemical properties of bamboo leaf ash (BLA) used.

Elemental SiO2 Al2O3 Fe2O3 CaO MgO SO3 K2 O Na2O Mn2O3 Cr2O3 P2O5 TiO2 LOI
Oxides (%)
(%) (%) (%) (%) (%) (%) (%) (%) (%) (%) (%) (%)

BLA 72.97 2.85 2.31 4.98 1.23 0.55 6.07 0.00 0.41 0.05 2.37 0.41 4.20

Table 2: Compressive strengths of BLA blended cement concrete at various ages.

Compressive strength (N/mm2)
BLA (%)
7 days 14 days 28 days 56 days

0 17.96 22.68 26.46 28.46

5 16.42 19.70 22.72 26.22

10 18.34 19.90 22.78 26.46

15 12.08 14.46 16.42 20.10

20 9.34 11.16 13.54 16.48

25 5.36 7.10 10.26 12.74

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 30
R² = 0.8049
R² = 0.9293
Compressive Strength (N/mm2)

25
R² = 0.984
0% BLA
R² = 0.9691 5% BLA
20
10% BLA
R² = 0.9666
15% BLA
15
20% BLA
R² = 0.9382
25% BLA
10

5
5 15 25 35 45 55
Curing Age (days)

Figure 1: Variation of compressive strength with curing age at various BLA content.

References

[1] Mehta, P.K. and Monteiro, P.J.M. (2006) Concrete: microstructure, properties and
materials, 3rd edn, McGraw-Hill, New Delhi.
[2] Hosseini, M.M., Yixin, S. and Whalen, J.K. (2011) Biocement production from
silicon-rich plant residues: perspectives and future potential in Canada. Biosystems
Engineering, 110(4).
[3] Dwivedi, V.N., Singh, N.P., Das, S.S., Singh, N.B. (2006) A new pozzolanic material
for cement industry: bamboo leaf ash. International Journal of Physical Sciences,
1(3), 106-11.
[4] Olusola, K.O. and Adesanya, D.A. (2004) Public acceptability and evaluation of local
building materials for housing construction in Nigeria. Journal of property research
and construction, 1, 83-98.
[5] Dipayan, J. (2007). A new look to an old pozzolan: clinoptilolite-a promising
pozzolan in concrete. Paper presented at the 29th annual conference of cement
microscopy, Quebec city, Canada.
[6] Metz, B., Davidson, O., Bosch, P., Dave, R., & Meyer, L. (2007). Climate change
2007 Mitigation of climate change, Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change,
Geneva (Switzerland), (Working Group III).
[7] Umoh, A.A., Alake, O., Babafemi, A.J., Olasunkanmi, O.F. (2013). Assessing the
performance of ternary blended cement concrete incorporating periwinkle shell and
bamboo leaf ashes. Civil and Environmental Research, 3(1), 26-35.

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