CHAPTER 2

REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE

This section focuses on the studies that support and relate the ideas prior to this study.

2.1 Maize in the Philippines: Production Systems, Constraints, and Research Priorities

This is one of a series of country studies on maize production systems in Asia. It is part of
a project designed to promote sustainable intensification of maize production systems while
ensuring equitable income growth and improved food security for poor households that depend on
maize. Maize is the second most important food crop (after rice) in the Philippines, and the major
source of income for one-third of farmers (1.8 million). It is also the primary source of feed for the
Filipino poultry and livestock industry, and is being increasingly used in the manufacturing sector.
Rapid economic growth and urbanization are expected to create an even higher demand for maize
in the Philippines. The challenge is to provide more maize for an expanding market, while
preserving the natural resource base and the environment. Effective policy design and
implementation must be based on comprehensive, accurate data on the current state of maize-based
farming systems. The goal of this study was to clarify the probable response of the social and
biophysical environments of the Philippines to future growth in demand for maize by determining
the constraints to productivity growth and the potential environmental consequences, by collecting
information on the available options for promoting sustainable growth (Gerpacio, Labios, Labios,
& Diangkinay, 2004).
2.2 Pozzolan
A pozzolan is a siliceous or siliceous and aluminum material that has little or no
cementitious value in itself but will chemically react with calcium hydroxide at ordinary
temperatures in a finely divided form and in the presence of moisture in order to form compounds
with cementitious properties. Pozzolans reduce the mortar's hydration thermal efficiency, which
improves its working capacity and durability. Therefore, it is classified as a cemented material. In
general, pozzolans are classified into two types: natural and artificial.

Natural pozzolans are not simply added but are used to replace some of the cement.
Significant sources of natural and man-made pozzolans including volcanic mineral deposits fired
and crushed clay and fly - ash, produced during coal combustion for electricity production. Most
pozzolans are plentiful, but prevailing its uses are limited. Therefore, they represent a potentially
costly source of building material (Al-Chaar, Alkadi, & Asteris, 2013). Artificial pozzolans are the
by-products or wastage from the industries. The most common raw materials used for the
manufacture of artificial pozzolans are stated as follows:

i. Fly-ash: Fly ash is one of the coal - burn residues and consists of thin, cement - filled
particles. In both fresh and hardened states, the fly ash as pozzolan significantly
improves the basic characteristic of concrete (Varma & Gadling, 2016). Fly ash reduces
 the heat of concrete hydration. Impermeability of concrete mass has been improved,
and resistance to moisture and harmful gases has been increased. Fly ash in cement as
a substitute for concrete and an additive in order to ensure its disposal and reuse in an
environmentally consistent manner.

ii. Rice husk ash (RHA): Rice husk is the residual product from milling rice. It does not
often have a commercial value, but instead poses a waste disposal problem. The ash
that comes from burning rice husk is a pozzolan that reacts with limestone and water
and produces a tie that is suitable for the application of low – strength masonry. Rice
husk generates ash in general around 20 percent of the volume, and rice husk ash can
be an important cement material because it is grown in several countries.

iii. Clay products: In general, it is possible to use for these soils that contain the common
clay minerals, but plastic clays, such as pottery, are more likely to produce good
pozzolanas. The clay should be cooked under-regulated temperatures and for this
purpose, a locally produced kiln or combustion plant can be used. The desired firing
temperature is approximately 600 ° C. Alternatively to rough clays, pozzolans can be
produced by grinding bricks or tiles obtained for the manufacture of fired bricks and
tiles as residual products. Here, a ball - mill or a hammer - mill for grinding material is
the only equipment necessary. The pozzolana and the lime are sometimes mixed and
ground in the ball mounted.

2.3 Supplementary Cementitious Materials for Concrete: Characterization Needs

A wide range of materials, including natural materials and byproducts of various industries,
are currently used as supplementary cement materials (SCM) for concrete. Natural SCMs were
traditionally common in concrete and mainly from volcanic deposits. The predominant SCMs are
industrial byproducts like fly ash, GGBFS and silica fumes, which are granular in the ground.
Research in historical and natural SCMs and other alternative SCM is currently resurging for a
wide variety of reasons. SCM's primary advantages are widely accepted to enhance mechanical
performance, long term durability, and sustainability, so that local demand may exceed the supply
of these materials. This article discusses some of the SCMs that draw attention to the global
research community and their properties and characteristics. The importance and demands of
material characterization are given special attention. Many SCMs do not necessarily use
characterization methods used in standardized test methods, which often fail to identify the most
important characteristics for reactivity prediction (Provis, et al., 2012).

2.4 A Review of the Use of Corncob Ash as a Supplementary Cementitious Material

Supplementary Cementitious Material (SCM) like ash is greater than ordinary cement
produced from sugar production. Cement has been argued to be the most expensive and energy -
intensive concrete material. It was also proposed that the use of supplementary cemented materials
(SCMs) would achieve energy efficiency, which requires less process heating and less CO2
emission. The paper examined the study of Corn Cob Ash (CCA) as an SCM, conducted by various
authors. The study examined the validity and reliability of studies using the quantitative method,
based on empirical data from laboratory experiments. The review focused on workability, density,
compressive and tensile strength, strength gain over time, water absorption and CCA - placed
concrete chemical resistance. It may be concluded from the findings that CCA can be used as an
effective SCM in the restitution of cement in concrete, with the benefit of reducing CO2 emissions
associated with cement production and mitigating the harm to the environment attributed to the
removal of corncobs and CCA in the deposit while improving wet and hard concrete properties at
the same time (Kamau & Ahmed, 2017).

2.5 Characterization of Corncob as a Possible Raw Building Material

Modern society is ruled by sustainable issues. In sustainable parameters, development is

supported. Cities are getting clever and green. The solution to contribute to this context is to
identify alternative sustainable materials and low - technology building methodologies. Corn cob
is generally regarded as agricultural waste. In general and for building industry this natural and
organic waste material can be used. In order to contribute to the knowledge of this material, this
study was elaborated to describe and evaluate its macrostructure and microstructure, elementary
chemical composition, density, water absorption, fire resistance, and heat insulation capacity. The
properties of corn cob, which are extruded polystyrene (XPS), extended polystyrene (EPS), cork
and expanded clay, were compared to those of the most common thermal insulation products in
the Portuguese construction industry. There were several similarities when comparing the
properties, particularly between corn and cork, of these materials which show that corn cob may
be used as a raw material for the processing, amongst other possible applications, of thermal
insulation products, light split walls, ceiling coat, interior doors, and furnaces. The results can also
contribute to an eco-friendly construction industry (Pinto, et al., 2012).

2.6 Physical Properties of Corn Residues

Corn waste (cobs, leaves, and stalks), which can be used as an energy source in gasification
and combustion systems, is available as a wide range of renewable materials. For use in
thermochemical conversion processes, a proper understanding of the physical properties of such
materials is necessary. This study identified the physical properties of corncobs, leaves, and stalks
(humidity content, particle size, bulk density, and porosity). The humidity content for each cob,
leaves, and stems was 6.38%, 7.92%, and 6.40%. The weight of cobs was the highest (18.23 %)
of smaller particles (< .212 mm) and the weight of leaves was the highest (40.10 %) of large
particles (> 0.850 mm). The majority of stalk particles were within 0.212 - 0.850 mm (84.82%).
The cob particle size had a standard concave (inward) partition distribution between 0.106 mm
(18.23%) and 0.925% (25.26% weight) of the lowest particle size (5.30% weight), while 0.390mm
particulate size was normal (outward) convex size between 0.106 mm (8.49% weight) and 0.925%
(6.69% weight). The leaves were increasingly distributed by particle size between 0.106 and 0.925
mm of the particle dimensions. The average size of particles was 0.56, 0.70 or 0.49 mm for both
cobs, sheets, and stalks. For cobs, leaves, and stalks, the average bulk density was 282.38, 81.61
and 127.32 kg-m3. The porosity of the maize cobs, leaves and stalks were averaged at 67.93, 86.06
and 58.51 %. The average particle size and porosity of the corn residue were positively correlated.
In this study, the differences in the physical properties of corn residues (cobs, leaves, and stalks)
are due to the composition and structural variations of those materials (Zhang, Ghaly, & Li, 2012).

2.7 Review of Related Studies

2.7.1 Strength Properties of Corncob Ash Concrete
According to (Olafusi & Olutoge, 2012), concrete is a synthetic building material made
from the proper proportions of cement mixture, fine aggregates, and coarse aggregates. Each of
these components has its specific strength. Consequently, the overall costs of concrete manufacture
largely depend on its supply and costs. The global production of cement in 1996 was estimated at
approximately 1.3 billion tons. While the figure is increasing annually, it is concluded that each
ton of cement produces approximately one ton of carbon dioxide. In a different way, the Portland
cement industry accounts for 7% of global emissions. We cannot continue producing more and
more concrete because of the important contribution to environmental pollution, the high
consumption of natural resources such as calcareous stone and the high costs of Portland cement
etc. It is necessary to save cement. One practical way of saving cement is by replacing cement with
corn cob ash, coal fly ash (fuel ash or PFA), ground granulated blast furnace slag (GGBS), silica
fume, metakaolin (calcined clay), rice husk ash, palm kernel shell ash.

The aim of this paper is to help reduce the costs associated with concrete production arising
from increased cement costs by using this waste to property initiative, and to reducing the volume
of solid wastes generated from corn cob. A varied percentage of CCA cement and 100% cement
concrete in mixtures 1:2:4 and 0.5 were investigated and compared with the physical and
mechanical properties. The results of the experiments, however, demonstrated that the use of CCA
as a partial substitute for concrete cement, particularly for works in plain concrete and non-carrying
structures, will improve waste to wealth initiatives. While CCA can be used as a partial substitution
for concrete in high - strength concrete, it takes a longer time to reach its designated strength and
requires water /cement ratio of less than 0.40 for CCA concrete. The use of superplasticizers is,
therefore, necessary to improve working efficiency.

2.7.2 Investigating Effects of Introduction of Corncob Ash into Portland Cements

Concrete: Mechanical and Thermal Properties

According to (Price, Yeargin, Fini, & Abu-Lebdeh, 2014), CO2 emissions are becoming a
very distressing problem, which continues to affect the environment negatively. The global
temperature keeps increasing as carbon dioxide emissions continue to grow. In the fast-growing
building industry, sustainable design practices to deal with the CO2 emissions of cement and
concrete production need to be developed and promote. The second most widely used substance
in the world is concrete. As cement production increases exponentially, focusing on ways of
developing alternative manufacturing processes is essential to reducing the carbon footprint
worldwide. The objective of this study was to assess the benefits of substituting Ordinary Portland
Cement (OPC) with mixed cement from Corncob Ash (CCA). Calcium oxide (CaO) from
limestone (CaCO3) commonly known as a calcination process is the main contribution to emissions
of CO2 from cement production. The permeability of CCA substitutes starts to rise due to the lack
of hydroxide of calcium present in CCA mixtures that react with excess silica.
The lack of reaction increases the porosity of the mixture and makes it possible to absorb
more water. As higher calcium hydroxide content becomes available, porosity and permeability
continue to decrease. CCA is used to be the main mixing agent in this study with OPC. An
experiment was carried out to determine a suitable CCA substitution percentage that conforms to
specific cement production standards. The experimental plan was designed to analyze compression
strength, working properties and thermal performance of different CCA cement mixtures. The data
from the experiment show that CCA substitution of up to 10% could be used for the cement
production unless the structural integrity of OPC is compromised. Furthermore, when CCA is
added to the mixtures, it was determined to increase the strength and working capacity of the
resulting concrete.

2.7.3 Effect of Corncob Ash as Partial Substitute for Cement in Concrete

Corncob is the hard thick cylindrical central core on which are borne the grains or kernels
of corn, usually in rows. It is the agricultural waste product obtained from maize or corn. The use
of corncob ash will reduces cost of production of concrete. The effect of corncob ash (CCA) as
partial cement substitution in concrete is assessed in this study. The sample conducted specific
gravity, sieve analysis, slump test and cube testing. In various locations in Ondo State, corncobs
were collected. For a few days the corncobs were air dried and burned into ash, which was sieved
to produce fine ash using a 75 μm screen size. Concrete cubes were cast, cured and tested at the
age of 7, 14, 21 or 28 with replacement levels of 0, 5, 10 15 and 20 percent. With 5 percent
substitution at 28 days age, an optimal compressive strength of 21.44 N/mm2 was obtained. The
results of the slump tests show that the concrete workability has decreased with the increase in the
CCA content. Concrete compressive strength decreased as the CCA replacement percentage
increased but with a curing age rises. Government and any organization with sustainable programs
and adequate funding to promote interested researchers should encourage more useful and
economical recycling of waste materials (Oladipo, Abimbola, & Popoola, 2015).

2.7.4 Improvement, Characterization and Use of Waste Corn Cob Ash in Cement-Based
Materials

This study examines the development of cob ash waste maize as additional substitutes for
cement. The study focused on the chemical composition, the physical properties and the technical
characteristics of corn cob ash as a result of heat therapy. The findings suggest that heat treated
corn cob Ash, 600 °C over 4 hours, shows SiO2 + Al2O3 + Fe2O3 at a percentage of about 72 %,
which is classified as natural pozzolan calcinated Class N, as specified by ASTM C618. The
pattern of radiation showed an increasingly high calcination phase of the amorphous silicon phase.
With the increasing replacement percentage of raw or treated corn cob ash, the water demand, the
initial time and the final time of setting the specimens increased. In comparison with the reference
sample, the mortar cubes used 20% of the corn cob ash replaced cement demonstrated 103% of
the compressive strength during 28 days. The corn cob ash treated with 600 ° C for 4 hours of
treatment shows a slightly higher efficiency when compared with untreated corn cob ash, which
improves tensile strength and compressing strength of concrete (Suwanmaneechot, Nochaiya, &
Julphunthong, 2015).