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REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE

Muscovado/Panocha Sugar

Muscovado/Panocha sugar is a type of sugar that has been introduced

to Filipinos during the colonial period, thus has a name traced back from the

Portuguese açúcar mascavar and Spanish azúcar mascabado meaning the

lowest quality or lowest value of the sugar. The term “Panocha” sometimes

called “Panotcha” or “Panutsa” is adopted by the Philippine government as a

class of muscovado sugar. Muscovado is a non-centrifugal sugar that is brown

in color, has coarser, stickier and moist texture than most brown sugars and is

used to be known as “poor peoples” sugar or the “poor man’s sugar” (ITDI-

DOST, Industrial Technology Development Institute- Department of Science

and Technology, 2007). It is unrefined sugar with high molasses content.

According to (PNS/ BFS 145:20_, Philippine National Standard - Bureau of

Agriculture and Fisheries Standards) muscovado sugar is a product of boiling

cane syrup and air drying to create dark and moist sugar.

Production

The abundance of sugarcane in the Philippines ranked seventh

worldwide of in terms of productivity and tenth in terms of production area

(.385 million tons) and volume of production (25.8 million metric tons). In data
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from the PSA (Philippine Statistics Authority), from April to June 2019, the

production of sugarcane is 2.61 million metric tons and ethanol, Panocha/

muscovado sugar, chewing and Basi/vinegar accounts 6.5%, that is about

169,650 metric tons.

Retarding Admixture

As described in ASTM C494 (2011), retarding admixtures belongs to

type-B of admixtures for hydraulic cement and is commonly applied in tropical

regions where hot weather conditions occur. This type of chemical admixtures

are capable of delaying or prolonging the setting of cement paste, thus,

concrete remains plastic and workable for a longer period of time than normal

concrete with or without changing its mechanical properties. It is also used to

overcome the accelerating effect of hot weather on the setting time of

concrete. It functionally works by coating the surface of tricalcium silicate

(C3S) components, thus delaying this reaction with the water (Greesan et al.,

2014).

Retarding admixtures are used to delay the setting of the concrete and

to retard increase in temperature. They can be produced from various acids or

sugars or sugar derivatives. Some transit mixer drivers keep sacks of sugar on

hand to throw into the fresh concrete mix in case they get delayed because of

traffic or for some other reasons that cause the delay in transporting concrete

mix. Retarding admixtures are particularly useful for large pours where there is
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a significant temperature increase caused by heat of hydration. They also

lengthen the time of plasticity of concrete, enabling better bonding together of

succeeding pours (McCormac & Nelson, 2006).

Nilson et al. (2010) also described set-retarding admixtures are

admixtures that are primarily used to compensate the accelerating effect of

high ambient temperature and to keep the workability concrete during the

entire placing period. This helps to eliminate cracking due deflection caused

by the weight of forms and also keeps concrete workable during succeeding

pours to avoid development of “cold” joints.

Retarding admixtures can be produced both from organic and inorganic

substances. The inorganic consists of boric acid, phosphoric acid, chromic

acid, hydrofluoric acid, and their salts. On the other hand, inorganic retarders

are composed of lignosulphonates, Carboxylic and hydrocarboxylic acids and

their salts, amines, amino acids and carbohydrates.

Effects of Sugars in Concrete

The main function of usage of sugar is to increase the initial setting time

of concrete. When it comes to mixing sugar in a fresh concrete mix, it has

better bonding property contributing to the chemical process of hardening the

concrete. However, Myrdal (2007) stated that not all sugars retard cement

hydration. The reducing sugars are moderate retarders, while the non-

reducing sugars are very efficient retarders depending on their chemical

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structures. There are two groups of sugars, reducing sugars, and non-

reducing sugars. Reducing sugars are glucose, fructose, maltose (malt sugar)

and lactose (milk sugar), while the non-reducing sugars are sucrose

(composed of glucose and fructose), trehalose (composed of two glucose

units) and raffinose. Muscovado/Panocha sugar is sucrose since it comes

from the sugarcane plant; therefore, it has the potential to be an efficient

retarder.

Musa (2016) stated two mechanisms on how sugar causes the cement

set retardation process. First, the formation of complexes with calcium ions in

solution increases their solubility and discouraging the formation of the nuclei

of calcium hydroxide. Secondly, precipitation around cement particles in this

mechanism makes the sugar molecules react with one or more components of

the cement to form a precipitate on the cement particles, imparting a low-

permeability coating on the cement particles.

According to “precipitation theory,” the addition of sugar increases the

concentrations of metallic elements such as aluminum, calcium, and iron in

concrete. These elements combine with the sugar molecules and form

insoluble chemical complexes that cover the every grain of cement. Then the

hardening of concrete is inhibited after several chemical processes. Hydration

slows down the process and the setting of concrete is extended (Greesan,

Prathap, & Vijayakumar, 2014). Muscovado/Panocha sugar contains also

several mineral concentrations, Jaffe´ (2015) gathered forty-two publications

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on chemical content and properties of non-centrifugal sugars including

muscovado sugar and found to show that has functionally significant quantities

of minerals which includes calcium, aluminum, and iron. A considerable

amount of these minerals are present in non-centrifugal sugars like the

muscovado/panocha sugar because it does not undertake the process of a

refinery, unlike refined sugars. These three minerals are essential in delaying

the setting time of concrete. For this reason, the muscovado/panocha sugar

can be an efficient retarder.

In a study by Otunyo & Koate (2015) entitled “Sugar Cane Juice as a

Retarding Admixture in Concrete Production”, they came into a result showing

a delay in the final setting time of concrete as the content of the sugarcane

juice was increased in the concrete mix. At 0% sugarcane juice, the final

setting time was 3½ hours, while the final setting time at 15% sugarcane juice

was 6 hours, reflecting an additional 2½ hours setting time.

Strength is also an important factor that must be considered in the

effects of sugar when mixed in concrete. Compressive strength is considered

as valuable mechanical property and is consistently a vital element of the

structural design, especially high early strength development which can offer

more benefits in concrete production, such as decreasing construction time,

manpower and saving the formwork and energy (Lateef, 2016). The strength

of concrete mixed with sugar to be acceptable, must not compromise the

strength of unmixed concrete and must significantly increase it. This was
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agreed with the results of Jaibeer & Dhyani (2015), which indicated that after

using sugar the compressive strength of concrete blocks was increased by

16.02% at 28 days when compared to ordinary concrete blocks without sugar.

Another study conducted by Kawade, Kamthe & Khemalapure (2017),

they use different percentages of sugar as admixtures at 0%, 0.05%, 0.1%,

0.15%, 0.2% and 0.25% by weight of cement. It was concluded that when

admixtures like sugar are added into the concrete mix, the mechanical

properties were enhanced. The workability, compressive strength and setting

time of concrete were improved having 0.10% of sugar as a satisfactory result.

Muscovado/Panocha Sugar as Additive in Concrete

The use of sugar as a retarding admixture decelerates the chemical

process of hydration, enabling the concrete to keep on a plastic state condition

and remain workable for an extended period of time (Suryawanshi et al.,

2014). Giridhar et al. (2013) studied the effect of sugar and jaggery as an

admixture in concrete. Grade M20 was used in a mix design and the

proportion of were 0, 0.05 and 0.1% by weight of cement. The results showed

that sugar has relatively higher slumps than that of jaggery. The segregation

and bleeding were less because of added admixtures. The setting time

increases rapidly as the sugar was increased. The compressive strength of

concrete increases as the addition of sugar and jaggery is increased. At 28

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days of curing, the compressive strength of concrete was 40.68MPa and

39.49MPa for sugar and jaggery.

There has also been a study conducted to establish whether sugar can

be used in the production of concrete. According to Musa (2016), which

studied the effects of sugar as a retarder on the properties of concretes in a

hot country of Nigeria, he mixed sugar (table sugar) to selected brands of

Portland cement mortar. He came to the conclusion that the usage of sugar as

a retarding admixture in concretes made with the different brands of cement

enhanced the properties of concretes when an optimum dosage was used. He

also suggested that sugar can be used as a retarder and substitute to

commercial retarders when concreting in hot dry weather regions in Nigeria.

Water-Cement Ratios

The water-cement ratio of a concrete mixture significantly affects the

strength of concrete. If the water content of the concrete mixture increases, it

tends to compromise the strength of the hardened concrete by decreasing it.

The rate and degree of hydration of the cement can also influence the ultimate

strength of concrete. Higher early strength starts from a higher rate of

hydration of the cement paste but has lower ultimate strength (Rowland,

2014).

Exposure conditions are also one of the factors that can affect the

required water-cement ratio. According to ACI 318 (2014), 0.50 is the water-
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cement ratio for concrete exposed to water, 0.45 exposed in freezing and

thawing and 0.40 for those exposed in chlorides.

Hot Weather Concreting

During concreting in hot weather, both setting time and compressive

strength are adversely affected. To prevent concrete from the adverse effects

of hot weather, admixtures are usually mixed in it (Lateef, 2016). According to

ACI 305.R-2010 (Guide to Hot Weather Concreting), “hot weather” is defined

as one or a combination of high ambient temperature, high concrete

temperature, low relative humidity, and high wind speed which be likely to

weaken the quality of freshly mixed or hardened concrete by accelerating the

rate of loss in moisture and rate of cement hydration.

In a given amount of water content, the temperature of concrete can

greatly affect its workability. Rowland (2014) said that slump reduces to

approximately 25 mm if there is an increase in concrete temperature from

27°C to 46°C. If water alone is used to provide the required workability at high

temperatures, there is a resulting loss in strength and durability. Furthermore,

increased water content also leads to an increased drying shrinkage.

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Curing

Curing is the most critical factor in hot weather concreting. It is a stage

where the fresh concrete mix starts to stabilize and gains its strength. Using

appropriate and adequate curing methods, a positive result in the placement

of concrete can be achieved. But because of heat and high temperature

induced by hot weather, appropriate curing time becomes limited. Nilson et al.

(2010) stated that concrete can lose thirty percent of the strength or more

caused by premature drying of concrete. Fresh concrete gains its strength

most rapidly during the first few days and weeks. Structural design is generally

based on the 28-day strength, about 70 percent of which is reached at the end

of the first week after placing. Several factors like the conditions of moisture

and temperature during this initial period can affect the final strength of

concrete.

Properties of Normal Strength Concrete

The Portland cement concrete has a density of 2240 kg/m3 to 2400

kg/m3. The compressive strength is 20MPa to 40MPa. However, the tensile

strength and flexural strength are low. The modulus of elasticity is 14000 to

41000 MPa. The permeability is 1 X 10-10 cm/sec.

As described by the DPWH Blue Book (2013), Class A (1:2:4) or the

M15 grade concrete has an average compressive strength of 14.48, 17.58,

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19.65, and 20.68MPa at 7, 14, 21 and 28 days of curing, respectively. Holcim

excel cement has a compressive strength of 19, 25 and 32 MPa at 3, 7and 28

days of curing with initial and final setting times of 130 minutes and 5 hours,

respectively (Holcim Philippines).