Document Type : Original Article
Authors
1
Department of Agricultural Engineering, Faculty of Agriculture, Cairo University, 12613 Giza, Egypt
2
Laser Applications in Metrology, Photochemistry and Agriculture (LAMPA). National Institute of Laser Enhanced Sciences (NILES), Cairo University. Giza,
3
Department of Microbiology, Faculty of Agriculture, Cairo University, Giza, Egypt.
4
Department of Structural Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Cairo University, 12613 Giza, Egypt
5
Department of Agricultural Engineering, Faculty of Agriculture, Cairo University, 12613 Giza,
6
Department of Laser in Meteorology, Photochemistry & Agriculture (LAMPA), National Institute of Laser Enhanced Sciences, Cairo University, Giza, 12613, Egypt, Department of Laser in Meteorology, Photochemistry & Agriculture (LAMPA),
7
Department of Agricultural Engineering, Faculty of Agriculture, Cairo University
Abstract
Environmental concerns and issues are raised regarding Portland cement manufacturing. Besides, mortar and concrete deterioration is a very common problem. Therefore, eco-cement is an efficient alternative to Portland cement. Eco-cement is an environmentally friendly green building-material having self-healing abilities to remediate concrete cracks. In this study, eco-cement was produced from the ash of agricultural crops residues (pyrolysis of rice straw, sawdust of forest residues, and corn stover) which are hypothesized to enhance the binding abilities among the different components of cementitious materials (residues ash, cement, sand, and bacteria) and accelerate the biomineralization process to precipitate calcite and seal the concrete cracks. Through this study, 12 experiments (4 treatments in triplicates) were conducted. The resultant eco-cement was used to prepare mortar cubes which were tested and analyzed. The following engineering properties of the resultant eco-cement mortar cubes were investigated: compressive strength, four point bending test, and water absorption test. The results show that the addition of rice straw ash delivered the highest compressive strength and the highest four-point-bending of eco-cement mortar cubes average of 86.33 kN and 2.18 kN, respectively; and an acceptable water absorption (5.82%) compared to all other treatments. The energy dispersive X-ray (EDX) analysis test results of the rice straw ash, sawdust ash and corn cob ash according to mass% of Si element were 7.55, 0.93 and 3.13 respectively and 0.84%, 0.45% and 0.41% for Al, respectively. It was concluded that the addition of the ash of agricultural crop residues to the cementitious mixture enhances its properties, where the resulting eco-cement is a promising substitute of the conventional Portland cement.
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