The mechanical properties of concrete containing palm oil clinker as fine aggregate replacement / Mohammed Yahya Al-Amri

Faculty of Civil Engineering and Earth Resources

Project Paper (Bachelors of Civil Engineering) -- Universiti Malaysia Pahang – 2018

Includes bibliographical references

The increasing sand mining activity to due to growth of construction industry in Malaysia, demand toward construction material. and the escalation of palm oil clinker(POC) disposal from Malaysian palm oil industry have caused negative impact to the environment quality. Uncontrolled river sand mining activity can cause ecological imbalance such as destruction of flora and fauna, river bank erosion and water pollution. The dumping of POC in growing quantity throughout the years worsen the environmental pollution, consumes larger disposal area and increases the cost spent by the palm oil mill in managing the waste. The main aim of this research is to study the mechanical performance of concrete containing palm oil clinker as partial sand replacement. The objectives of this study are to investigate the effect of palm oil clinkeras partial sand replacement on workability, compressive, flexural strength and water absorption of concrete. Two mixes were prepared in this research which are control mix and modified mix. The slump test decreases as the percentage of palm oil clinkercontent replaced becomes higher. Reduction of palm oil clinker in the concrete mix workability is probably due to the higher rate of water absorption of this fine aggregate which possess higher porosity as compared to natural sand. The presence of POC as partial replacement of sand in concrete would reduce the compressive strength of concrete. Concrete containing 20% of POC as partial sand replacement recorded that it achieved about 90% of the strength of the control concrete. It is the highest among the other replacement percentage of POC. The presence of POC as partial replacement of sand in concrete would affect the flexural strength. However, the sample containing 20% of POC had the highest flexural strength compared to 10%, 30% and 40% of POC replacements. The concrete containing 20% of POC as partial sand replacement have 87% of the flexural strength of the control concrete. POC as partial sand replacement in concrete production would increase the water absorption value of concrete. The percentage of water absorption of the concrete increase with the increment in the amount of POC in concrete. Conclusively, 20% of POC is the optimum amount to be compared among other replacement to be used as partial sand replacement to produceconcrete.