Chapter 1

THE PROBLEM AND ITS SETTING

INTRODUCTION

There has been increasing interest in utilization of agricultural waste ashes in concrete. If

the waste can be reused and recycled; natural resources are used efficiently, waste is kept out of

landfills and the waste disposal costs are saved. Utilization of the waste as cement replacement

not only reduces the economic and environmental problems associated with the waste disposal

but also reduces the CO2 emissions during cement manufacture which requires extreme heat. 1

Therefore, partial replacement of cement with bamboo culm ash in concrete bricks has twofold

effect; (1) reducing the waste and the problems associated with them and (2) reducing the cement

content in concrete bricks and its negative economic and environmental impacts.

There are natural waste products such as rice husk ash, sawdust and sugar cane straw

ash that are already in use in concrete as mineral admixtures to improve concrete properties and

hardened state. Another potential source is bamboo waste generated during the annual industrial

processing of approximately 20 million tons of bamboo for diverse applications including

construction materials, bamboo furniture and even high-tech industry. These wastes are either

disposed of in landfills or burnt, ultimately harming the environment by polluting the air and

occupation of useful lands. In addition, the biodegradation of bamboo, which is a natural

lignocellulosic composite, emits methane, with a heating effect of 72 times higher than that of

CO2 .2

1
Statement of the Problem

The main concern of the study is to develop a “Bamboo Culm Ash as an Additive to the

Concrete Bricks” that will be highly acceptable to the society and would be very beneficial to

anyone. Specifically, this study seeks to answer the following questions:

1. What is the compressive strength of the concrete bricks with bamboo ash?

2. What is the significant effect of bamboo ash to the concrete bricks?

3. Can the Bamboo Culm Ash (BCA) concrete be used to replace the Portland cement

in concrete brick?

Hypothesis

The hypothesis of the study is that there is a significant difference between the strength

of bricks with Bamboo Culm Ash (BCA) to the strength of plain bricks.

Assumption

That cement with Bamboo Culm Ash (BCA) would enhance the strength of the brick.

Scope and Delimitation

The researcher focused only on the strength of the Bricks with Bamboo Culm Ash. The

study used Portland cement as a raw material. Also, the proponent concentrates only to three

ratio of mixture, 90% cement with 10% Bamboo Culm Ash, 80% cement with 10% Bamboo Culm

Ash and 70% cement with 30% Bamboo Culm Ash. The proponent also delimited the study on

the physical and chemical properties present on the Bamboo Culm Ash.

2
Significance of the Study

The result of the study will, in one way or another, influence and benefit the following:

Students. This will be a great help and can encouraged the students to utilize their

creativity, imagination and thinking capacity to come up with new ideas which will lead to wider

visions on new innovation and development of bricks.

Manufacturers. This study will help the manufacturers to come up with new material that

can help to reduce the cost in construction and make use of the natural resources of the country.

Community. It will provide information regarding the possible use of bamboo culm ash as

admixture to the cement.

Future Researchers. It could help them providing with some helpful and important ideas

related to their respective researchers. May this study provide them with the pertinent data that

they could use in their undertaking.

3
 Notes

1. Naik, T.R., and Moriconi, G., “Environmental-friendly durable concrete made with recycled

materials for sustainable concrete construction,” International Symposium on Sustainable

Development of Cement, Concrete and Concrete Structures, Toronto, Ontario, 2005, pp.

5-7.

2. Karade, S.R., “Cement-Bonded Composites from Lignocellulosic Wastes,” Construction

and Building Materials, Vol. 24, 2010, pp. 1323–1330.

4
 Chapter 2

REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE AND STUDIES

This chapter presents a review of related literature and studies that have bearing in relation

to the present study on creating Bamboo Culm Ash as an additive to the concrete bricks. The

following literatures were found relevant in the present study.

Related Literature

In developing countries like India skyscrapers are touching to new heights in metros, at

the same time large masses are struggling to get appropriate shelter, because of the ever-

increasing population and unaffordable costs of the construction materials. Same is the situation

in rural areas. This is because of the fact that, the construction industry is the major consumer of

energy and materials in most of the countries, which is not the true sign of sustainable

development. This underlines the acute need for alternative construction materials having low

cost, low embodied energy and which are renewable.

Bamboo is one of the promising low-cost substitutes to steel bars as reinforcement in

cement composite matrices. In addition to low cost, it is replenish-able and offers good

mechanical strength. It can be handled by local unskilled labors and no expensive or artificial form

of energy for its manufacture is required. It can be used as a whole, splits or in the form of fibers.

Bamboo as reinforcement has certain well-known drawbacks. The foremost is the

dimensional changes due to water absorption from surrounding concrete resulting in consequent

loss of bond and cracking. As it is organic matter containing sugar, it attracts borer insects. It also,

decays due to attack of fungus in wet condition. However, appropriate treatments can overcome

these deficiencies to considerable extent.

5
 Bamboo is one of the construction materials known to mankind since time immemorial. It

is the most common construction material used for hut type structures in developing countries. Its

use as reinforcement to cement matrices was recognized at the beginning of twentieth century.

Chu made pioneering experimentation on bamboo reinforced concrete in 1914, at Massachusetts

Institute of Technology which was 7 followed by several field applications in China up to 1919.

Scientists declined to work on these investigations because of enhanced industrial production

and easy availability of reinforcing steel till 1936. During Second World War, the American and

the Japanese armed forces used bamboo for reinforcing cement matrices for emergency military

structures, because of acute shortage of steel reinforcement. Thereafter, several investigations

were carried out in the United States, India, Philippines and Thailand to understand the

advantages and shortcomings of bamboo as reinforcement and it is continued till date.1

Related Studies

Yusoff et al. (1992) studied the chemical composition of one, two and three year old

bamboo (Gigantochloa scortechinii).2 The carbohydrate content of bamboo plays an important

role in its durability and service life. Durability of bamboo against mold, fungal and borers’ attacks

is strongly associated with its chemical composition. Furthermore, the ash content of bamboo is

also made up of inorganic minerals, primarily silica, calcium and potassium. Manganese and

magnesium are two other common minerals. Silica content is the highest in the epidermis, with

very little in the nodes. Reactions of this ash (heated at moderately high temperatures) with

calcium hydroxide are known to be pozzolanic in nature. The mechanism for this display of

strength is the reaction of silicates with lime to form secondary cementitious phases (calcium

silicate hydrates with a lower Ca/Si ratio) which display gradual strengthening properties usually

after 7 days.

6
 Akaninyene et al. (2013) studied the effect of Periwinkle Shell Ash (PSA) and Bamboo

Leaf Ash (BLA) on the mechanical properties of concrete for a standardized mix of 1:2:4.2 They

have conducted experiments with varied percentages of PSA and for 10% of BLA. They

concluded that concrete with 80% cement, 10% PSA and 10% BLA gives better strength than

other mixes. Hence, in the present work it is proposed to study the effect of substitution of BLA in

different percentages of replacement of cement on the compressive strength and sorptivity

characteristics.

Dwivedi et al. (2006) reported the reaction between calcium hydroxide (CaOH) and

bamboo leaf ash for 4 hours of reaction, using the differential scanning calorimetry (DSC)

technique, while Singh et al. (2007) studied the hydration of bamboo leaf ash in blended Portland

cement2. Bamboo leaf ashes were obtained in a laboratory electric furnace at 600C calcining

temperature for 2 hours of retention. Once calcined, the ashes were ground and sieved below 90

µm, fineness similar to that of Portland cement. The ash showed grey colour. These studies

concluded that bamboo leaf ash is an effective pozzolanic material. When 20% weight of bamboo

leaf ash was mixed with OPC, the compressive strength values of mortars at 28 days of hydration

were found to be quite comparable to those of OPC.

Ernesto et al. (2007) discussed the characterization and studied the pozzolanic behavior

between calcium hydroxide (CaOH) and bamboo leaf ash (BLA) obtained by calcining bamboo

leaves.2 Based on the chemical composition, morphology and XRD pattern test on bamboo leaf

ash, they concluded that this kind of ash is formed by silica with a completely amorphous nature

and a high pozzolanic activity. Sabir et al. (1998) measured the uni-directional water absorption

of mortar and concrete. They tested the sorptivity of various mortars, found out the variation in

sorptivity with curing period and investigated the compressive strength.

7
 McCarter et al. (1996) studied the absorption of water and chloride ion penetration into

concrete and found that sorptivity is to be minimized to bring down problems due to either chloride

ion penetration or sulphate attack on concrete. Bai et al. (2002) found from their studies that

addition of fly ash increases sorptivity, whereas addition of silica fume reduces sorptivity.

Synthesis of the Art

The previous studies and literature were closely related to the present study. The study of

Akaninyene is similar to the present study. The difference is the present study used bamboo culm

ash as an additive in making concrete brick.

Gap Bridge of the Study

From the foregoing reviewed related studies, it is evident that most of them focused on

the physical, chemical and mechanical property of bamboo ash. However, no one has tried to

conduct a study about the mixture of bamboo culm ash and cement to make a brick.

For this reason, the study tried to bridge the gap on the possibility that the brick with

bamboo culm ash can be used as a structural material.

Theoretical Framework

This portion of the study described the principles that are applicable to the evaluation of

the performance if Concrete mixed with BCA. The theory is based on the design books and

different design standards such as NSCP and ASTM standard. This principle is very useful in the

practice of civil engineering profession and is vital to the development of Concrete mixed with

BCA used as a bearing wall.

The researcher uses the theory of recycling of the bamboo culm for its possible

economical use and to avoid it from risk to the environment and also the theory of comparison of

the compressive strength of plain concrete and concrete mixed with bamboo culm ash.

8
 This study will provide low cost of concrete because of the replacement of bamboo culm

ash to the Portland cement if the concrete mixed with bamboo culm ash will meet the required

compressive strength of the plain concrete.

9
 THEORY OF
RECYCLING

Portland
cement mixed
NSCP with BCA, fine ASTM
aggregates,
and water

THEORY OF
COMPARISON

Figure 1. Theoretical Paradigm

10
Conceptual Framework

The concept of this study is illustrated by the diagram in figure 2. The input includes the

different Codes, Standard and Specification. The researchers used the National Structure Codes

of the Philippines (NSCP), American Standard for Testing Materials (ASTM) as guide in the

analysis of these characteristics that affected the compressive strength of concrete.

The throughput covers the selection of materials required by ASTM C33 Standard

Specification for Concrete Aggregates. In the experimental study, the open heaped-up burning

method of bamboo culm ash was adopted because of its potential reactivity and it is one of the

most common methods of disposal of bamboo culm in this country. Thus, the output of this study

is Concrete Bricks with Bamboo Culm Ash.

The feedback directed to the input block gave supplementary information regarding the

compression strength test. On the other hand, the feedback heading for the throughput guided

the researcher on improving the process to produce better compressive strength of the specimen.

11
 ASTM
NSCP
WATER
AGGREGATES
INPUT BAMBOO CULM ASH
PORTLAND CEMENT

1. SELECTION OF
THE MATERIALS
2. MIXTURE
PROPORTION
THROUGHPUT
3. PREPARATION OF
SPECIMEN
4. COMPRESSIVE
TEST

CONCRETE BRICK
OUTPUT MIXED WITH
BAMBOO CULM ASH

Figure 2. Conceptual Framework

12
 Chapter 3

RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODOLOGY

This chapter deals with the manner in which the problem was investigated to yield the

desired goal. Included are the choice of design applicable to the problem, its purpose and the

means in which the information gathered were treated.

RESEARCH DESIGN

For this study, the researcher believe that the most appropriate design is the quantitative

design because it involves the collection and analysis of collected data that is obtained from tests.

Specifically, this study employed the experimental type of research since it undertaken the testing

of the product where it was used and also it underwent a laboratory test to know the durability

and strength of the product.

RESEARCH METHOD

The present study – Bamboo Culm Ash as an Additive to the Concrete Bricks, use the

experimental, comparative, and descriptive method in dealing with the research. Experimental

method was used in the study since laboratory test in the determination of the mixture proportion

of cement and bamboo culm ash (BCA) were made. The data and result needed depend on the

outcome of the experiment.

Comparative method was used since the strength of mixture proportion of cement and

bamboo culm ash (BCA) are to be compared to the strength of plain concrete based on the

standard specification. Descriptive method was used to discuss the methods and procedures of

the research. It is also used to interpret the result of the test.

13
Collection of Materials

In this study, the researcher carefully selected the materials needed in the experiment.

These are the Portland cement, fine aggregates, BCA and water.

Fine Aggregates

The fine aggregates are carefully selected in order to ensure that the materials are free

from decaying matters that may affect the good quality of the product. So, the researcher decides

to get the fine aggregates in Legazpi City because of easy access of this material.

Portland Cement

Portland cement ASTM type 1 was used in the experiment because it is the most

commonly used cement, accessible in hardware and it is highly suitable for use in the general

concrete construction.

Bamboo Culm Ash (BCA)

Bamboo Culm is one of the most widely available agricultural wastes here in the Bicol

area and the majority of the culm is either burnt or dumped as waste. In this research, the bamboo

culm will be used as a cement replacement material. The raw bamboo culm used in this study

came from Oas, Albay and it will be burned for an hour to obtain the residue which is called the

Ash. After burning the bamboo culm, it was sieved in order to get the Bamboo Culm Ash (BCA)

that was used in the experiment.

Experimental Procedures

The researcher prepared the materials that where used in the experiment, these materials

are Portland cement, fine aggregates, water and bamboo culm ash as partial replacement for

cement. There is five ratio and it is 100% plain cement with aggregates and 90% cement with

10% Bamboo Culm Ash (BCA), 80% cement with 20% Bamboo Culm Ash (BCA) and 70% cement

14
with 30% Bamboo Culm Ash (BCA). The plain concrete was produced in order to make a

comparative analysis

15
Definition of Terms

In order to understand the study clearly, the following terms are conceptually and

operationally defined:

American Standard for Testing Material (ASTM) is an international standards

organization that develops and publishes voluntary consensus technical standards for a

wide range of materials, products, systems, and services.3

Bamboo Culm is a perennial evergreen that is part of the grass family (a very tall and

woody grass). It is characterized by a jointed stem called a culm.4

Portland Cement is the most common type of cement in general use around the world

as a basic ingredient of concrete, mortar, stucco, and non-specialty grout.5

16
 NOTES

1. file:///C:/Users/user/Downloads/Documents/12_chapter2.pdf

2. file:///C:/Users/user/Downloads/Documents/3601.pdf

3. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ASTM_International

4. http://www.bamboobotanicals.ca/html/about-bamboo/bamboo-growth-habits.html

5. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portland_cement

17