Experimental Investigation on the Effects of Coffee Husk Ash as Partial Replacement of Cement on Concrete Properties

Abstract

The production of cement results in the depletion of natural resources and consumption of huge energy and CO2 emissions to the environment that cause global warming and climate change. To alleviate the problem, there is a growing interest of researchers to find an alternative material to partially cement by industrial and agricultural wastes. This research was therefore aimed to examine the potential of using coffee husk ash (CHA) as partial replacement for ordinary Portland cement (OPC) in C-25 concrete production. Concrete mixtures were prepared by partially replacing cement with CHA in different proportions (0%, 5%, 10%, and 20%) by weight with a constant w/c of 0.5. The consistency, setting time, workability, compressive strength, water absorption, sulphate attack, Fourier transform infrared (FTIR), and thermo gravimetric (TGA) tests were conducted on concrete samples. The test results revealed that the workability of mixtures showed a decreasing trend with an increase in the share of the CHA content in which the measured slump flow values ranged between 15 and 35 mm. Contrarily, the setting time of concrete mixtures showed an increasing trend with an increase in CHA content. The initial and final setting times were in the range of 67–126 minutes and 310–524 minutes, respectively, which is in the range of the standards. The compressive strength of concrete decreased with an increase in the share of the CHA, in which the results were measured in the range of 35.1–22.7 MPa for the 28th day sample with 5% and 20% of CHA, respectively. However, it increases as the curing days increase, whereas the water absorption of the concrete increases as the CHA increases but decreases as the curing days increase due to the porous nature of the CHA. From the study microstructure of concrete using Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy and thermogravimetric analysis, differential thermal analysis results show that the C-S-H gel would be from 950–1100 cm−1 wavenumber and at 500oC, and the CHA sample was decomposed and mass loss was observed at 500oC. In general, it was also observed that, from the compressive strength, the concrete satisfies its design strength up to 10% replacement level without compromising the performance of concrete.