Vol. 19 No. 3 Journal of Wuhan Universityof Technology- Mater.Sci. Ed. Sep.

2004

Concrete with Highly Active Rice Husk Ash *

FENG Qing-ge 1'2) LIN Qing-yu2) YU Qi-jun3) ZHAO San-ying3)

YANG Lu-feng2/ Shuichi Sugita 1)
1)H a c h i n o h e Institute of Technology( Japan ) ;2) Guangxi University 3) South China University of Technology
( Received: April 10, 2003; Accepted: May 13,2004)
Abstract: The overall aim was to investigate the effect of highly active rice husk ash ( RHA ) produced by
an industrial furnace on some properties of concrete. The strength, pore volume and pore distribution of concrete
and the Ca( OH)2 content in concrete were investigated by JIS A 1108 ( Method of test for compressive strength of
concrete ), a mercury instrument porosimeter , and the thermogravimetric analysis, respectively. The resalts show
that, with RHA replacement of cement, the compressive strength of concrete is increased evidently ; the average pore
radius of concrete is greatly decreased, especially the portion of the pores greater than 20nm in radius is decreased
while the amount of smaller pores is increased, and the more the RHA replacemeat, the less the amount of Ca
( OH)~ in concrete. The latter two results are the main reasonafor the strength erthancement of concrete.
Key words: rice husk ash ; pore structure; poz.zolanic activity; concrete

heat energy from the combustion of rice husk. In this

1 Introduction
For engineering, economic and ecological benefits,
the use of pozzolanic and cementitious materials, such as
granulated blast-furnace slag, fly ash, silica fume and
natural pozzolan, in the cement and concrete industry has
risen greatly from the middle of the last century and con-
tinues to be further increased to meet the rising demand of
cement in the world. Except for the materials mentioned
above, the use of rice husk ash (RHA) in concrete is un-
der development. More than 120 million tons of rice husk
are available for disposal in the world every year. As a re-
newable source of energy, it is quite attractive as a substi-
tute for fossil fuels for heat and electricity generation (The
calorific value of rice husk is about 50% of coal). In ad-
dition, under a controlled combustion condition, the burn-
ing of rice husk can yield about 20% ash, containing
89%-97% amorphous SiP2 and with very high surface ar-
ea. Experimental results showed that with the substitution
of RHA for normal portland cement in concrete, not only
the strength of concrete was enhanced but also the dura-
bility of concrete was improvedIvT] . Hence, the produc-
tion of RHA with high pozzolanic activity and the use of
RHA as an effective pozzolanic material in concrete have
received much attention since 1980s. Maeta Corporation
of Japan designed and built a rice husk combustion fur-
nace ( Fig. 1), with which RHA with very high pozzolanic
activity is produced accompanied by the recovery of the
FENG Qing-ge ( 7-~~ ~ ) : Born in 1%7; Assoc.Prof. ; Col-
lege of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Guangxi University,
Nanning530004, China
* Funded by the National "863" Research Project of China
(2002AA3350)and the High-levelUniversityConstructionProject of
South China Universityof China(D6580)
study, the influence of RHA produced by the fumace on
concrete strength and the requirement of air-entraining
agent and superplasticizer of RHA blended concrete were
investigated.
2 Experimental
Raw materials used in the experiment were:cement:
ordinary portland cement;fine aggregate: river sand with
density of 2.60g/era 3 and FM. of 2.84 g/cm3 ; and coarse
aggregate: crushed sand stone with density of 2.64g/cm 3
and maximum size of 20mm. The physical properties and
chemical compositions of the cement are shown in Table 1
and particle size distribution is shown in Fig. 2.
The combustion temperature of rice husk in the fur-
nace was controlled at around 5dO~ "The product,
RHA, is with 112 m2/g of specific surface area (N2 ad-
sorption) and the silica in it is mainly in amorphous form
(Fig. 3). Its chemical composition and physical proper-
ties are given in Table 1. The variation in electrical con-
ductivity of saturated Ca (OH)2 solution after adding
2.5% (wt/vol) of the RHA is 4.75 mS/cm, showing the
RHA has very high activityES].
S Sugita and Q Yu observed that for a given work-
ability more mixing water was needed for RHA blended
concrete I3'43 . The relationships between RHA replacement
and requirement of superplasticizer (SP, a newly devel-
oped polycarboxylic acid-based matter) and air-entraining
agent in Fig. 4 are for concretes with air volume of 5 %
and slump of 80mm. No segregation and bleeding has
been observed for all the fresh cone1~etes with RHA.
 Vol. 19 No. 3 FENG Qing-ge et d : Concrete with Highly Active Rice Husk Ash 75

<-,--Exhaust gas ] 100 *

ff'
1
k~
Rice husk Burner J
inlet . ~ Sti~re]~" ~ l
-% "~ 80
.~
~.-Cementused

60

J,
40
Se!ew
,oo r
Air 820

RHA ~ 0.1 1 l0 100 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55 60

Valve Fan Particle size/txm 2 0/~
outlet
Fig. 1 RHAproductionsystem Fig.2 Particle size distribution of RHAand cementused Fig.3X-ray diffractionspectrumof RHA
Table 1 Chemical composition and physicalproperlies of The mixture proportions of concretes are shown in
RHA and cement used Table 2. According to JIS A 1108 (Test Method for
Item RHA C e m e n t Compressive Strength of Concrete), concrete cylinders of
Loss on ignition, % 2.31 3.10
Si~, % 92.40 21.29 100 mm • 200ram for compressive strength were prepared
A1203, % 0.30 5.60 at: ( 1 ) RHA replacement ratios of 0 % , 10%, 20%
F~03, % 0.40 3.00 and 30% by mass; ( 2 ) W / B (water/binder ratio) of
CaO, % 0.70 62.69
30% and 3 5 % . After moist-cured at (20 + 2) ~C and t>
MgO, % 0.30 2.24
Na~O, % 0.07 0.30 85% relative humidity for 2 days, the cylinders were
I(20, % 2.54 0.31 cured in water at (20 + I)~C to total curing ages of 3,
503, % 1.47 7, 28 and 90 days, respectively. Compressive strengths
P205, % 0.51
MnO, % 0.11 __ are given in Table 3, from which it can be found that:
C1, % 0.11 -- the compressive strengths of concretes with W / B of 35%
Specific gravity 2.10p 3.16 are increased by 15.0 MPa, 24.0MPa and 3 1 . 0 MPa
Specfie surface, Blaine, m2/kg 330
__ corresponding to 10%, 20% and 30% RHA replace-
Nitrogen adsorption, ~ / g 112
Median grain size, tan 7.40 26 ment of cement;at 7d concretes attain the maximum in-
Variation in electrical conductivity,mS/cm 4.75 - crement in strength. For instance, at W / B of 35% the
Note: by X-ray fluorescence analysis concrete with 30% RHA is increased by about 80% in
3 Results and Discussion strength in comparison to plain concrete; and the longer
the curing time, the higher tie strength of concrete.
3.1 Effect of R H A replacement on the strength of
concrete
Table 2 Mixture proportions of RHA blended concrete
RHA replacement Unit content/(kg/m3)
W/B s/a, % AE/% SP/%
of cement, % Water RHA Cement Stone River stand
0 0 509 968 636 0.030 0. 175
10 51 458 956 628 0. 045 0. 800
0.35 20 40 178 102 407 944 620 0.060 1. 600
30 153 356 932 612 0.070 2. 720
0 0 600 934 588 0.030 0.250
0.30 10 39 180 60 540 920 579 0.060 1.400
20 120 480 906 570 0. 120 2. 600
Table 3 Compressive of RHA concrete 3.2 Effect of RHA replacement on the pore struc-
RHA Compressive strength, MPa ture of concrete
W~B replace-
ment/% 3days 7days 28days 91days The pore distribution and total cumulative pore vol-
0 30.4(100 ~ ) 39.6(1130) 51.2(100) 56.9(100) time of the concretes were determined by a mercury instal-
10 41.4(136) 53.0(134) 66.2(129) 73.3(129) ment porosimeter. The results are shown in Table 4 and
0.35 20 43.5(143) 65.0(164) 75.2(147) 77.8(137) Figs. 5-8, which illustrate that the total pore volume and
30 49.0(161) 70.9(179) 82.2(161) 88.1(155)
the average pore radius of concrete are generally decreased
0 35.7(100) 41.8(100) 52.3(100) 60.5(100)
with the addition of RHA to concrete. At W / B of either
0.30 10 48.9(137) 61.4(147) 75.1(144) 80.9(134)
30% or 35% the portion of pores greater than 20nm in
20 52.5(147) 65.7(157) 77.8(149) 78.9(130)
radius is evidently reduced, the amount of smaller pores is
Figures in parentheses are compressive strengths of RHA con-
adversely increased.
crete, percent of plain control concrete
 76 Journal of Wuhan Universityof Technology- Mater.Sci. Ed. Sep. 2004

Table 4 Pore structure of RHA concretes Mortar portions (cubes by about 5mm) were taken
RHA Total pore volume Average pore from concretes cured for 7, 28 and 91days, after washed
W/B replacement of /(mm3/g) radius/ran with acetone they were D-dried for one week. The
cement/% 28 days 91 days 28 days 91 days Ca(OH)2 content in them was determined by TG analyses
0 64.62 -- 15.68 -- (heating rate: 10~2/min, test range: 30-1050~C). The
0.30 10 56.39 -- 10.73 -- results show that in the investigated range of RHA replace-
20 60.26 -- 4.97 -- ment, the more the added RHA, the less the amount of
0 67.33 48.12 15.79 12.93 Ca(OH)2 in concrete, and for the concretes with 30%
10 56.76 42.73 12.93 7.31 RHA replacement of cement cured for 28 days and 91
0.35 days, amount of Ca(OH)2 in them falls below the detec-
20 46.46 42.06 8.84 4.98
30 39.42 30.28 4.98 4.11 tion limit of the instrument. Fig. 9 gives the Ca(OH)2
eontent in the concretes at W~B of 35 %. Curing age does
3.3 Effect of RHA addition on the amount of Ca not significantly affect the Ca(OH)2 content in RHA con-
( O H ) 2 in concrete crete.
0.2 60 120

0.1 ~ 50 100

i 40

~,~,m ~ 30
~ "" 0.1
"_~ 20 ! 40
0.0 ~ 10 20

0.0 0 .., ~ 0 . . . . . . . i . . . . . . . . , . . . . . . . w m

0 1020 30 10
1O0 1000 10000 1-00000 10
100 1000 10000 100000
RHA content(%) Pore radius/nm Pore radius/nm
Fig.4 Relationship between requirement of Fig.5 The relationship hetween relative pore Fig.6 Pore size distribution of cement
superplastici ter(SP),air-entraining(AE) volume andpore radius of cement mortar mortar (W/B=0.35,28 days)
and RHA content (B:binder) (w/b=0.35,28 days)
--I---W/B=O.35(AE) r W/B=O.30(AE) Ak Control r RHA10% .t. Control ; RHA10%
Ak W/B=O.35(SP) ~ W/B=O.30(SP) RHA20% + R H A 3 0 % --'1"-- RHA20% -- RHA30%
60 120
Control ] ~ 10 t -~-7days

~
50 Control
* RHA 10% ~ 100 t RHAIO% /
9""it- RHA 20% ~~ 7.5 I
\ t 28days
91day
4o - 1 - - RHA 20% so

.~ 20
6o
!'/
2.5
:~ 10 20
o ' 0 . Ol
10 100 1000 10000 100000 0 10 100 1000 10000 100000 0 20 10 ~'0 40
Pore radius/nm Pore radius/nm RHA content~
Fig.7 Relationship between relative pore volume Fig.8 Pore size distribution of cement mortar Fig.9 Amount Ca(OH)a in concrete
and pore radius of cement mortar (WIB=0.30,28 days) (W/B=0.35)
(W/B=0.30,28 days)
Being with very high activity, the sin2 in RHA can
quickly react with the Ca2+ and OH ions in the liquid 4 Conclusions
phase of hydrating cement to form C-S-H gel. More C-S-
H gel and less portlandite, therefore, is formed in RHA a) For a given air volume and slump concretes with
blended concrete compared to plain concrete, also the hy- RHA addition have a higher requirement of air-entraining
dration of cement is promoted. As a result, the average agent (AE) and superplasticizer (SP).
pore radius of concrete is decreased; especially the por- b) The more the replacement of RHA, the higher
tion of the pores greater than 20nm in radius is evidently the compressive strength gain of concrete in spite of the
decreased. All of them surely make the structure of con- W/B and curing age, at 7-day age RHA concretes get the
crete more compact and the strength of concrete increase. maximum strength increment ratio.
With higher strength, less portlandite, more C-S-H gel c) With RHA replacement of cement in concrete,
and smaller pore size, the durability of RHA blended the average pore radius of concrete is decreased; especial-
concrete is certainly superior to normal concrete I7"9"~ . ly, the portion of the pores greater than 20nm in radius is
decreased while the amount of pores smaller than 20nm is
 Vol. 19 No. 3 FENG Qing-ge et al : Concrete with Highly Active Rice Husk Ash
increased.
d) The amount of C a ( O H ) 2 in concrete is reduced
evidently with the increase RHA content in concrete.
Acknowledgements
The authors are grateful to Dr M Shoya, Dr Y Tsuki-
naga and Dr M Aba, Professors of Hachinohe Institute of
Technology, for their constructive discussions and great
help to this study. The first and the third authors appreci-
ate the financial support from National "863" Research
Project of China (2002AA335050) and from the High-
level University Construction Project of South China Uni-
versity of Technology (1365080).
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