Usability of Organic Wastes in Concrete Production; Palm Leaf Sample

Abstract

Palm leaves are vegetal waste that are not widely used by the society, only piled up and causing odors that mix with the environment. Channeling this waste material into the construction industry helps to overcome waste disposal problems as well as promote sustainability. The most important features expected from the buildings are the creation of the most suitable environmental conditions for the products to be stored or the creatures that will live in them, and they can be used safely for a long time. In the construction of the buildings, materials that are the cheapest possible, safe and capable of creating the optimum environmental conditions should be used. The materials to be selected should have sufficient strength and durability, high heat and sound insulation and lightness. Since single-storey buildings are not subject to excessive load, it is important that the thermal insulation is high and light in material selection. Since the widespread use of concrete as a building material in the world, efforts to make concrete light, cheaper and better insulating have gained importance. Lightweight concrete, which is easy to apply, has been an important building material in recent years. With the use of lightweight concrete as a building material, benefits such as economy in terms of material, earthquake resistance, and the elimination of a second insulation material for heat and sound insulation can be achieved. In this study; Experimental study using Portland cement (CEM I), Palm Leaf, CEN standard sand and water mortar production; sample production, curing, some physical and mechanical experiments were carried out in four stages. The usability of palm leaf, which is a vegetable waste, as aggregate in concrete production by replacing it with CEN standard sand at 0, 5, 10, 20, 30 and 40% as well as 10% with cement has been investigated. The study results show that the addition of both ground palm leaf and palm leaf aggregate significantly altered almost all properties of concrete. These changes are at different levels in terms of physical properties. As a result of the study, it was determined that as the amount of foam increased, the spreading diameter increased, whereas palm leaf addition decreased the spreading diameter. It has been determined that the addition of palm leaf decreases the depth of water treatment depending on time, the porosity of the samples with high level of palm leaf addition increases and the compression and bending strength decreases.