The Effects Of Sugar Cane Bagasse Ash As Suplementary Cementitious Material In Production Of Concrete

CHAPTER THREE
METHODOLOGY
3.1 Material Sourcing
     The materials used for this research work are Bagasse Ash, Cement and Aggregate (fine and coarse).
3.1.1 Bagasse ash
    The Sugarcane bagasse used for this research was taken from Sugarcane Market  which is located at Naibawa Kano State, Nigeria. The bagasse was collected from dumped heaps in the market.
3.2.3 Cement
    The cement used was Dangote Ordinary Portland cement bought from a Vendor in Ilorin.
 3.1.2 Aggregates
      Aggregates should be hard and strong and free from undesirable impurities, and should be chemically stable. Soft, porous rock can limit strength and wear resistance; it may also break down during mixing and adversely affect workability by increasing the amount of fines. Aggregates should also be free from impurities such as silt, clay, dirt and organic matter.
3.1.2.1 Fine aggregate
    The fine aggregate used in the concrete productions is river sand. In order to investigate its properties for the required application different tests were carried out which include: sieve analysis, specific gravity and absorption capacity.
3.1.2.2 Coarse aggregate
    The coarse aggregates used for this research were granite rock gotten from a site at challenge. A maximum aggregate size of 19 mm was used in all the concrete production., the coarse aggregates were sieved in a similar manner  just like the fine aggregate, tests were carried out to identify the physical properties of the coarse aggregate and Sieve analysis for coarse aggregate.
3.2 Research Procedure
    The laboratory investigations on the aggregates, fineness of cement and bagasse ash, pastes and concretes are carried out at Kwara State Polytechnic, Civil Engineering Department, material laboratory; while the chemical properties of the bagasse ash are conducted at Engineering Material Development Institute in Akure, Ondo State.
    The following tests were carried out to achieve these objectives. The first Test was done on   bagasse ash in order to determine the fineness of the  powder, the water requirement or normal consistency and setting time of the blended paste. The second Test was made on concrete in which part of the cement was replaced by bagasse ash.     These tests were used to investigate the pozzolanic property of bagasse ash, its effect on the performance of the concrete such as workability and Compressive strength
3.2.1 Production of  Bagasse Ash
    The bagasse was collected from dumped in the market. The Sugarcane bagasse was sun-dry to eliminate any race of moisture. It was then taken to the blast furnace for incineration thereby forming an ash as hshown in Fig. 3.1 .The temperature at complete combustion was about 1250Oc. The Sugarcane Bagasse (SCB) was then put in the blast furnace till subsequent day and grayish-black ash was obtained on cooling.     The ash was then weighed and sieved with a 90μm standard sieve and the quantity retained on the sieve (black carbon) was weighed and discarded. The ash collected was later weighed (conforming to American Society for Testing and Materials -ASTM C595-85 standard specification for blended hydraulic cements).