Abraham Henry Bernard 1

Research Field : Engineering Building Material

Research Title : Rheological and Mechanical Properties of Foamed Concrete Containing
Eco Processed Pozzolan
Prepared by : Abraham Henry Bernard
Supervisor : Dr. Ts. Ahmad Nurfaidhi Rizalman
Research Grant : Science and Technology Grant (Malaysia Toray Science Foundation)

Introduction

Foam concrete is a type of concrete that is produced by locking air voids in the mixture of
cement, sand and water. It is done by the help of foaming agent and air, this intrusion creates
a low density concrete that is classified as lightweight concrete. (Gencel et al., 2022). It had
low self-weight, minimum aggregate consumption (does not contain coarse aggregate), high
fluidity, controlled low strength and thermal insulation (Ramamurthy et al., 2009). The air
pores intrude by the foams constitute 10-90% by volume of the hardened concrete body, this
porous structure forms the basis of the mechanical properties, thermal conductivity and
durability of foamed concrete (Hou et al., 2021).
Literature Review

From the perspective of fresh properties, a study have shown the slump flow and slump of
foamed concrete ranging from 660 to 750 mm and 260 to 280 mm respectively (Hwang &
Tran, 2015). Similar result was obtained in another study, whereby foamed concrete with
palm oil fuel ash as filler was tested with an inverted slump cone test in accordance with ASTM
C1611 shows a range of spread value from 410 to 559 mm (Kang et al., 2013). This result
was also found having tested for slump flow and J-ring flow of 531mm and 520 mm
respectively, a good indicative evidence that foamed concrete possesses a characteristic of a
self-compacting concrete (SCC) (Kamaruddin et al., 2018).

Foamed concrete also proven to show significant compressive strength for both load bearing
and non-load bearing structures. According to ASTM 129-14a, the minimum non load bearing
strength to achieve is 4.41MPa wherelse ASTM C90 specifies that the load bearing strength
would be 13.1MPa for lightweight concrete density ranging from 1680-2000 kg/m3. A study
has found that the compressive strength decreases exponentially with a reduction of density.
Parameters affecting the strength include specimen size and shape, water content, method of
pore formation, cement-sand ratio, particle size distribution of sand and also foaming agent
(Rudolph C. Valore, n.d.). In coherently to density influence, a recent study has tested foamed
concrete compressive strength with varying density ranging from 800 – 1600 kg/m3. The result
for 7 days to 28 days strength graph was plotted and two things was noticed, (1) the
incremental strength development (7 days to 28 days strength) of increasing density attributes
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to the increase in strength exponentially, (2) the strength result of concrete density 800 –
1600 kg/m3 range from 2.57Mpa to 18.56Mpa respectively (Krishna et al., 2021).

Apart from compressive strength, the void system of foamed concrete are also a distinct
characteristics which can be predetermined by its permeability, pore size distribution and
porosity which reflects highly on the durability and strength of foamed concrete (Raj et al.,
2019). These air void system are attributes of types of foaming agents used during mixing,
according to (Panesar, 2013) synthetic foaming agent and protein-based foaming agent, the
latter produced smaller, isolated spherical air bubbles. (Hilal et al., 2015) observed under
scanning electron microscope (SEM) to characterize pore size and shape parameters and
studied the effects of different additives on strength performance. The investigation shows
that addition of additives notably enhanced microstructure and pore structure of foamed
concrete slurry compared with conventional mixes.

Malaysia is the largest producers for palm oil production in the world with 423 palm oil mills
in Malaysia estimated generated 240,000 tons per annum or more of Spent Bleaching Earth
(SBE) utilised in the refining process of crude palm oil (Kheang et al., 2017). These SBE are
generated in large quantities and ignoring it poses threats to the environment as to dispose it
have been becoming increasing challenging as the production of palm oil increases rapidly.
Principally, the main task of bleaching earth was used to remove colouring, soap gums, metals
and oxidising compounds during the oil refining process. The waste is usually dumped in a
landfill without any treatment (Othman et al., 2020). Hence a sustainable option was created
that is to calcinate the SBE further at high temperature, this process is to refined the SBE into
Eco Processed Pozzolan (EPP) and SBE oil.

Eco-processed pozzolan (EPP) is a solid waste material extracted from the waste product of
crude palm oil degumming and bleaching process from refinery plants (Raihana et al., 2019).
The waste product is called spent bleaching earth (SBE) generated from the edible oil
processing. Further extraction and refining of SBE before undergoing calcination via heat
treatment produces calcined compounds called Eco Processed Pozzolan (EPP). According to
ASTM C618, EPP is categorized as a class C pozzolan based on its chemical composition. A
study was found to reveal an XRF result of 47.6% SiO2 content and the combined value of
SiO2, aluminium oxide (AL2O3), and iron oxide (Fe2O3) is 68.98% which is less than 70% to
be categorized as Class N or Class F pozzolan but it classified as Class C pozzolan with more
than 50% summation of the three oxides in accordance to ASTM C618 (Sutarno & Mohamad,
2023).
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Research Objectives
1. To determine the physical, chemical, mineralogical and microstructural properties of
the constituent materials of foam concrete including cement, sand, foaming agent,
and eco-processed pozzolan (EPP).
2. To investigate the optimized EPP content as partial cement replacement.
3. To evaluate the rheological and mechanical properties of foamed concrete containing
EPP of different cement replacement level.

Research Methodology
Material Properties Test Standard
Physical Specific Gravity ASTM C188
Fineness BS EN 196-6
Setting Time BS EN 196-3
Compressive Strength BS EN 196-1
Cement
Chemical XRF (Chemical Composition) XRF Machine
XRD (Crystalline Phases) XRD Machine
Loss of Ignition
Morphology Microstructure SEM machine
Physical Specific Gravity ASTM C188
Fineness BS EN 196-6
Eco
Pozzolanic Activity Index ASTM C618
Processed
Chemical XRF (Chemical Composition) XRF Machine
Pozzolan
Loss of Ignition
Morphology Microstructure SEM machine
Physical Sieve Analysis BS EN 12620
Oven dry Bulk Density ASTM C128
Sand
Specific Gravity at Saturated Surface Dry ASTM C128
Morphology Microstructure SEM machine
Rheology Slump Flow BS EN 12350-8
EN 12350-10
L-Box or J Ring
EN 12350-12
Sieve Segregation BS EN 12350-11
Viscosity BS EN 12350-9
Foamed Fresh Density ASTM C138
Concrete Hardened Compressive Strength BS EN 12390-4
Flexural Strength BS EN 12390-5
Tensile Strength BS EN 12390-6
Porosity ASTM C1202
Hardened Density BS EN 12390-4
Morphology Microstructure SEM machine

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Framework Schedule

Sep- Oct- Nov- Dec- Jan- Feb- Mar- Apr- May- Jun- Jul- Aug- Sep-
Task/ month
24 24 24 24 25 25 25 25 25 25 25 25 25
Literature Review
Introduction
Objectives/Problem
Statement
Methodology
Source out material
& instruments
Review writing with
supervisor
Conduct
Experiment (1)
Result and Testing
(1)
Results and
Discussion
Review writing with
supervisor

Oct- Nov- Dec- Jan- Feb- Mar- Apr- May- Jun- Jul- Aug- Sep- Oct-
Task/ month
26 26 26 27 27 27 27 27 27 27 27 27 27
Conduct Experiment
(2)
Result and Testing
(2)
Results and
Discussion
Review writing with
supervisor
Conduct Discussion
(3)
Result and Testing
(3)
Results and
Discussion
Review writing with
supervisor

Nov- Dec- Jan- Feb- Mar- Apr- May- Jun- Jul-

Task/ month
27 27 28 28 28 28 28 28 28
Conduct Discussion (3)
Result and Testing (3)

Results and Discussion

Review writing with
supervisor
Final Review with supervisor

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Equipment Required

Equipment Unit Remarks

Foaming Machine 1 West Malaysia Supplier
Air Compressor (0.5 HP) 1 West Malaysia Supplier
UPV machine 1 KK Supplier
References
Gencel, O., Bilir, T., Bademler, Z., & Ozbakkaloglu, T. (2022). applied sciences A Detailed Review on
Foam Concrete Composites : Ingredients ,.
Hilal, A. A., Thom, N. H., & Dawson, A. R. (2015). On void structure and strength of foamed concrete
made without/with additives. Construction and Building Materials, 85, 157–164.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.conbuildmat.2015.03.093

Hou, L., Li, J., Lu, Z., & Niu, Y. (2021). Influence of foaming agent on cement and foam concrete.
Construction and Building Materials, 280, 122399.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.conbuildmat.2021.122399

Hwang, C., & Tran, V. (2015). A study of the properties of foamed lightweight aggregate for self-
consolidating concrete. CONSTRUCTION & BUILDING MATERIALS, 87, 78–85.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.conbuildmat.2015.03.108

Kamaruddin, S., Goh, W. I., Jhatial, A. A., & Lakhiar, M. T. (2018). Chemical and Fresh State
Properties of Foamed Concrete Incorporating Palm Oil Fuel Ash and Eggshell Ash as Cement
Replacement. 7, 350–354.
Kang, S., Siang, C., Yuan, O., & Ling, Y. (2013). Fresh and hardened properties of lightweight foamed
concrete with palm oil fuel ash as filler. Construction and Building Materials, 46, 39–47.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.conbuildmat.2013.04.015

Kheang, S., Yein, K., & Salimon, J. (2017). Applied Clay Science Surface-active physicochemical
characteristics of spent bleaching earth on soil-plant interaction and water-nutrient uptake : A
review. Applied Clay Science, 140, 59–65. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.clay.2017.01.024

Krishna, A. S., Siempu, R., & Kumar, G. A. V. S. S. (2021). Materials Today : Proceedings Study on the
fresh and hardened properties of foam concrete incorporating fly ash. Materials Today:
Proceedings, xxxx. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.matpr.2021.03.599
Othman, R., Muthusamy, K., Duraisamy, Y., Sulaiman, A., Jaya, R. P., Adilah, N., Abdul, A., & Mangi,
S. A. (2020). Evaluation of the sulphate resistance of foamed concrete containing processed
spent bleaching earth. European Journal of Environmental and Civil Engineering, 0(0), 1–16.
https://doi.org/10.1080/19648189.2020.1809526

Panesar, D. K. (2013). Cellular concrete properties and the effect of synthetic and protein foaming
agents. Construction and Building Materials, 44, 575–584.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.conbuildmat.2013.03.024

Raj, A., Sathyan, D., & Mini, K. M. (2019). Physical and functional characteristics of foam concrete : A
review. Construction and Building Materials, 221, 787–799.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.conbuildmat.2019.06.052

Ramamurthy, K., Kunhanandan Nambiar, E. K., & Indu Siva Ranjani, G. (2009). A classification of
studies on properties of foam concrete. Cement and Concrete Composites, 31(6), 388–396.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cemconcomp.2009.04.006

Rudolph C. Valore, J. (n.d.). Cellular Concretes Part 2 Physical Properties. ACI Journal Proceedings,
50(6). https://doi.org/10.14359/11795
Sutarno, M. S., & Mohamad, H. M. (2023). Peat Soil Compaction Characteristic and Physicochemical
Changes Treated with Eco-Processed Pozzolan ( EPP (. January. https://doi.org/10.28991/CEJ-
2023-09-01-07