Oil palm shell as an agricultural solid waste in artificial lightweight aggregate concrete

Abstract

The aim of this study was to produce a sustainable construction material by incorporating an agricultural solid waste, namely oil palm shell (OPS), in an artificial lightweight aggregate concrete. For this purpose, in a structural lightweight aggregate concrete made of expanded clay, the lightweight aggregate was substituted with OPS in 0, 25 and 50% by volume. Properties such as compressive strength under different curing conditions, as well as density, splitting tensile and flexural strengths, modulus of elasticity and drying shrinkage of expanded clay-OPS concretes were measured and discussed. The test results showed that partial substitution of expanded clay by OPS increased the density, compressive strength, specific strength (compressive strength to weight ratio), as well as splitting tensile and flexural strengths of lightweight concrete. However, it was observed that the modulus of elasticity decreased by about 4 and 13% in the 25 and 50% substitution levels, respectively. The expanded clay-OPS concretes showed greater drying shrinkage strain compared to expanded clay lightweight concrete. In addition, it was found that the sensitivity of compressive strength of concretes containing OPS to the lack of curing is due to high drying shrinkage and consequently micro-cracks formation in the interfacial transaction zone of the concretes.

Mechanical Properties and Flexural Response of Palm Shell Aggregate Lightweight Reinforced Concrete Beam

“…It can be highlighted that the decline in density was noticed for OPS lightweight concrete, extending from 11% to 23% of the NCA concrete. Shafigh et al [42] observed this consistent phenomenon of test results for palm shell LWC, where the density was approximately 14-19% lighter than NCA concrete. The decrease in the density of palm shell aggregate lightweight concrete is observed due to the more permeable characteristics of the palm shell that is stuck to the aggregates.…”

“…It seems to minimize the dead load of the RC members, which satisfied the LWC requirement according to ASTM C330/C330M-17a [18]. Other researchers also reported a similar finding in their experimental investigation on structural lightweight concrete production with expanded clay [42]. However, LWC is considered with a density below 2160 kg/m 3 based on a practical application [43].…”

Thermal Performance of Structural Lightweight Concrete Composites for Potential Energy Saving

“…Their load-carrying behaviors for structural uses are defined by the requirements of codes of practice. In the variety of available concrete material technologies, lightweight concretes, which include foamed concrete [3][4][5], oil palm shell concrete [6,7], and lightweight aggregate concrete [8,9], offer alternative options for building materials by achieving the constraint of structural use. For this, ACI design specification has identified a minimum compressive strength of 17 MPa.…”

Adsorption of hydrogen sulphide (H2S) using xerogel synthesized from palm kernel shell biochar

“…Xerogel is microporous and can be defined as a low-density biomaterial employed for various promising applications in different fields [9]. Xerogel is produced from gels by replacing a liquid phase, commonly solvent crystals, with a gaseous phase with no ruin of the created porous solid architecture [10,11,12]. The significance of Xerogel-based PKS is that it will become an effective and low-cost material widely used globally as an absorbent, not only effective on toxic gases but also in absorbing engine oil and heavy metal removal in wastewater.…”