Eco-Friendly Innovation for Enhancing Durability of Concrete - A Way Out to reduce Environmental Carnage by Cement

Modern world is enjoying the benefits of an industrialized society with little thought to ecological repercussions. Among various ecological and environmental hazards being faced by fragile ecology, industrial contamination is the most severe. Among this class, Cement industry, being an energy-intensive industry, produces many environmental denigrating emissions. Therefore, understanding the environmental implications of concrete and cement industry are becoming increasingly imperative. Extensive research has established that the most direct, technically sound, economically attractive and environmentally optimum solution to the problems of reinforced concrete durability lies in the incorporation of finely divided siliceous materials in concrete. In simpler terms, rice husk ash can be blended with Portland cement for the production of durable concrete. Moreover addition of Rise Husk Ash (RHA) to Portland cement not only improves the strength of concrete, but also forms a calcium silicate hydrate gel around the cement particles which is highly dense and less porous and may increase the strength of concrete against cracking. This work investigates the effects of adding residual rice husk ash (RHA) on the strength of concrete. The result of the work reveals that the 30 % RHA sample is not able to maintain the tempo and in fact only tends to show a promise of attaining similar strength as the control mix with curing age with insignificant Effect Size of 0.58-0.66 over the curing period of 7-28 days, Whereas RHA level at 20 % Presents a good tendency of concrete and can at the moment be adopted for construction of masonry walls and simple foundations activity.