This paper aims to examine the effect of cellulose nanocrystals (CNCs) derived from oil palm empty fruit bunch fiber (EFB) incorporating cement mortar on its structural performances. Cellulose nanocrystals (CNCs) were extracted from α-cellulose extracted from EFB using an acid hydrolysis process with a concentration of acid used was 64% w/v under the temperature of 45 °C for 60 minutes. The Cellulose nanocrystals (CNCs) were mixed into the cement mortar ranging from 0 to 0.8% w/w and its mechanical properties were determined. The developed CNCs mortar was characterized for their compressive and flexural properties as well as microstructure. The influence of CNCs concentration, curing method, dispersion of CNCs on mortar's mechanical performance was thoroughly examined to find out the optimum condition. Overall results revealed that an addition of 0.4% cellulose nanocrystals has shown to increase the compressive and flexural strength to 46% and 20%, respectively cured under the wrapping method. The hydration of cementitious composites also improved significantly with the addition of CNCs by the formation of highly crystalline of portlandite observed under the XRD test. This present work demonstrates the importance of palm oil empty fruit bunch waste as a sustainable resource of cellulose nanocrystals admixture to achieve structural strength of cement mortar and promotes green technologies in construction. Recent times have seen higher demand for sustainable and green products reproduced from waste materials 1. In particular, this has called for more research and development endeavors to recycle waste materials into biodegradable products with low environmental impacts 2. The potential of several types of cellulose-based materials from agro-wastes such as palm oil, pineapple, kenaf, sisal, etc. as reinforcing materials in cement composites has been discovered decades ago, but yet to be thoroughly understood and applied in real-world construction 3,4. Cellulose can be extracted from various plants while oil palm empty fruit bunch is one of its sources. Malaysia is the second-largest producer of palm oil and the country's palm oil industry produces about 90 million tonnes of lignocellulosic biomass, including empty fruit bunches, oil palm trunks, and oil palm fronds, as well as palm oil mill effluent 5. Reinforcement of natural fibers and cementitious matrices from various sources of plant fiber have found to improve the mechanical strength of the composites and currently is being applied in various industrial sectors including construction, automobiles, aerospace's, etc. 6,7. In particular, renewable waste materials such as agro-waste have enhanced the mechanical properties of cement mortar 8. However, direct incorporation of natural fiber material into mortar leads to low concrete workability, decay problems, low resistance to chemical attack, and other structural problems 9. The most common approach to overcome these problems is through surface

No abstract

No abstract

Since early civilization, the toughness of concrete Pozzolanic materials, either naturally occurring or artificially produced, has long been in practice. The purpose of pozzolanic materials in the cement industry especially contributes to strengthening the concrete structure after its reaction with water. However, the increase in temperature of the cement mixture after the addition of water becomes a great concern. Which can affect the quality of the structure afterward. Therefore, this research mainly focuses on the study of the heat of hydration process in the early stages of a concrete mixture. Four types of concrete mixtures are used in this study are Ordinary Portland Cement concrete (OPC), pulverised fuel ash cement concrete (PFAC), Kenaf fibrous concrete (KFC), and Kenaf pulverised fuel ash concrete (KFPC). The temperature of all samples was recorded for 72 hours. The selection of pozzolanic material of PFA cement in the mixture was found to play an important role in controlling the heat. The result indicated that the replacement of 25% of PFA (for PFAC sample) and addition of Kenaf fiber (for KFC sample) in the concrete mixture reduced the heat of hydration by 5% and 3% respectively, compared to the conventional OPC mixture. Thus, the combination of PFA and Kenaf fiber in one concrete mixture can result in a 6% reduction of the heat of hydration. Hence, the partial replacement of cement with pulverised fuel ash and kenaf fiber is beneficial, especially for mass concrete where it can minimize the effect of thermal cracking of the structure due to excessive heat rise.