Effect of Sulphate on Mortar with Sugarcane Bagasse ash and Calcium Carbide Waste.

Abstract

The demand for green and sustainable materials o replace conventional Portland cement have been grown extensively in recent years, this has Facilitated the innovation of sustainable concrete materials. The accumulation of agricultural and industrial Wastes had contributed to environmental pollution. This research focuses on the investigation or the effect of sodium sulphate on compressive strength and hardened density or mortar made from sugarcane bagasse ash (SCBA) and calcium carbide Waste (CCW) as binder. The chemical composition of SCBA and COW were determined. The mortar mix was prepared using the blend of 70/30, 60/40 and 50/50 mix ratios of SCBA and CCW. To study the effect of sulphate resistance, mortar of 50 mm cube with different mix ratios containing SCBA and CCW were prepared and cured in water. The cubes were later immersed into sodium sulphate at a concentration of 10%. The compressive strength of concrete at 3, 7, 21, 28 and 56 days of water curing were determined. Mass loss and strength reduction due to sulphate effect were evaluated at 14, 28 and 56 days. The result obtained from chemical analysis of the sugarcane bagasse ash indicated that the combined percentage of Al2O3, Fe2O3 and SiO2, is 78.76%, while chemical analysis of calcium carbide waste showed that the Cao is 87.0%. The compressive strength at 56 days shows that the control specimen has the highest value of 25.36 MPa while that of the formulated binder proportions were 6.93, 5.19 and 4.64 MPa for 70/30, 60/40 and 50/50 mx ratios, respectively. These shows that the 50/50 combination has the lowest strength development while 70/30 combination shows a better strength development compared to the control sample. This indicates that the compressive strength of the mortar decreases with increase in the proportion of CCW. The results of the sulphate resistance test shows that the control specimens and 70/30 mix combination showed a better performance in respect to visual appearance, weight and strength loss respectively. Hence, the mortars formulated from the various binder combinations satisfied the basic requirements for class N, P and O mortars specified by BS EN 998-2.