Ecology, Environment and Conservation Paper

STUDY OF GEOPOLYMER CONCRETE OF RICE HUSK ASH AND FULLER’S EARTH

Lisha Kurup, Manas Nair, Ayush Vyas, Ayush Narnaware, Ayan Agrawal and Harshwardhan Gupta

Abstract

The production of Cement which is the main ingredient of concrete causes major pollution of green house gases. Now a days major initiative is being taken to produce geopolymer concrete which is more economical and environment friendly. This article expounds the study of geopolymer concrete made from Fullers Earth, Rice Husk Ash, Quick Lime and Solution obtained from heating RHA in 20 N NaOH solution. 24 cubes of concrete having dimensions of 150 mm2 were prepared by mixing Fullers Earth, Rice Husk Ash in different proportions with Quick Lime and coarse and fine aggregate in solution obtained after heating Rice Husk Ash in 20N NaOH solution. The casted specimens were cured at 40 oC for 28 days in the curing tank. It was seen that the compressive strength increases with the increase in percentage of Rice Husk Ash but addition of more than 30% Rice Husk Ash brings down the compressive strength of the geopolymer concrete. The mixture of 30% Rice Husk Ash and 60% Fullers Earth gives maximum compressive strength of 30N/mm2. Thus the focal objective of preparing a cementless concrete has been achieved by the exploitation of naturally available Fullers Earth (FE) and the agricultural waste Rice Husk Ash (RHA).