INTRODUCTION

Concrete is the most common material used in building construction nowadays.

The production process of concrete also includes additional ingredients other than

aggregates, cement and water. This additional ingredient was known as concrete

admixture. One of the most frequent concrete admixtures used is retarder.

Retarding admixture is one of the famous admixture used because it can retard the

hydration process of the concrete thus, prolong the setting time especially in hot

weather concreting. This condition will offer extra time for transportation and also

for concrete placement. Other than that, for multiple batch of concrete placement,

the extension of setting time will avoid cold joints from happening. However, the

high demand of admixture causes the price in the market increased. Therefore, the

use of sugarcane bagasse as a natural admixture for concrete is suggested. The

concrete produced by adding sugarcane bagasse was tested in terms of setting time

by using the standard penetration test for concrete. For hardened concrete, the

concrete was also tested in terms of mechanical properties which include

compressive strength test, tensile strength test and flexural strength test, Specific

gravity, sieve analysis.. The results show that the concrete added with sugarcane

bagasse has longer setting time up to four hours instead of only two hours for

normal concrete. The strength of hardened concrete also increased when added
with sugarcane bagasse. Therefore, as the conclusion, sugarcane bagasse can be

used as a natural concrete retarder based on the results obtained.

STATEMENT OF PROBLEM

Research on concrete and study investigations on the engineering properties of

concrete is always a pre-requisite for planning and constructions of Civil

engineering structures.

It has been observed that the poor performance of pavement founded on concrete

leads to high maintenance costs as a result of undue settlement of the foundation

level and occurrence of different types of crack on the structure.

AIM AND OBJECTIVES

The main aim of this project it to identify the potential application of sugarcane

bagasse ash concrete.

Objectives of the study

 To study the effect of sugarcane bagasse mixed with fresh concrete as

retarder.

 To reduce the disposal of waste

 The reduce the use of fresh materials

  To reduce the construction cost.

SCOPE AND LIMITATION OF THE STUDY

The scope of this project is limited to the comprehensive strength of concrete with

Bagasse ash. The laboratory test is limited to the compressive strength, flexural

strength and tensile strength Specific gravity, sieve analysis.

JUSTIFICATION OF STUDY

Portland cement has been confirmed in its requirement for construction works. But

the cost of the improvement of concrete with bagasse and ordinary blending

cement with the concrete is getting more expensive.

METHODOLOGY

Methods and procedure that will used to complete this research will be explained.

Basically, the experimental aim of this research is to determine the functionality of

sugarcane bagasse ash as a concrete admixture or in more specific as concrete

retarder. The test for determining the effectiveness of sugarcane bagasse as

concrete retarder include penetration test that will be arrange to compare the time

taken between normal concrete and concrete with sugarcane bagasse ash to set.

Besides that, as from the literature review it is stated that the retarder will also give
slight improvement on the final strength of the concrete besides its main function.

Therefore, the mechanical strength test that includes compressive strength, flexural

strength and tensile strength will also carryout. All the works will be done at the

Structure Laboratory in federal polytechnic Bauchi.

BAGASSE ASH

The sugarcane will be Obtain at one of the far away sugarcane market of Bauchi

state and then burnt in a specific temperature to obtain the bagasse ash.

CEMENT

The cement that will be used in this study is ordinary Portland cement

METHODS

SAMPLE PREPARATION

The samples for testing were prepared according to American standard for Testing.

The concrete samples were first sieved through the required sieve number (200) for
the test. The required amount of aggregate will be weighed out for the test. The

material to be added to the concrete will also sieved through the required sieve for

the test and then the required amount will be weighed out on the weight basis as

per the percentage to be added to the soil for test. The aggregate and the material

will be mixed together in dry conditions thoroughly before testing. The mixed

samples will then be use for performing the various tests.