Influence of Palm Oil Fuel Ash on Properties of High-Strength Green Concrete

Abstract

Palm oil ash wastes are normally used as fuel to heat up boiler for electricity generation in palm oil mills. This process leads to the production of unwanted ash residue which is known as palm oil fuel ash (POFA). The sufficiently amorphous POFA contains a high amount of silica, which makes it possible to be used as a pozzolanic material in concrete. POFA was treated to lower the unburned carbon and to reduce the particle size and then used in the production of high strength concrete by partially substituting ordinary Portland cement (OPC) at replacement levels of 0%, 10%, 20%, 30%, 40%, 50 and 60% on the mass-for-mass basis. The results show that the high strength green concrete containing POFA has superior workability, strength and transport properties when compared with the control OPC high strength concrete even at high POFA content of 60%. Hence, the treated POFA has promising potential to be utilized in the production of high strength green concrete with superior strength and transport properties. This could directly contribute to the sustainability of the concrete industry, via the utilization of agro-industry by-product in high strength green concrete with lower cement consumption and potentially superior durability performance.