Study on the Effect of Rice Husk Ash, Fly Ash and Palm Frond Ash in Geopolymer Cement

• Main Author: Sockalingam, Shathiskumar
• Format: Final Year Project
• Language: English
• Published: Universiti Teknologi PETRONAS 2013
• Subjects: T Technology (General)
• Online Access: http://utpedia.utp.edu.my/10667/1/FINAL%20YEAR%20PROJECT%20REPORT.pdf; http://utpedia.utp.edu.my/10667/
• Institution: Universiti Teknologi Petronas

The research or the study of the effect of rice husk ash, fly ash and palm frond ash on geopolymer cement has been carried out and completed. The objective of the research is to determine the suitability of the produced geopolymer cement to be used in oil well cementing applications. Meanwhile, the effect of the curing period of cement and also the composition it is made of on the compressive strength of the geopolymer cement were also studied. The compressive strength testing was carried out on produced geopolymer cements since compressive strength is one of the main factors that determine the appropriateness of a cement to be used in cementing applications. The evolution of geopolymer cements is due to the environmental pollution caused by carbon dioxide release by industries particularly cementing and aggregate industries which could lead to global warming. Geopolymer cements also are good substitute for Ordinary Portland Cement (OPC) since OPC is known for its corrosion potential with carbon dioxide. Thus, the production and usage of geopolymer cement could curb all these problems. The scope of the research is limited to the three aforementioned raw materials to be used in compressive testing study in determining its suitability to be used in real life applications. Thus, the whole research is laboratory based. The methodology of the research can be divided into five major sections, which are, gathering relevant data and information, calculation of cement slurry proportions, geopolymer cement production, compressive strength testing of geopolymer cement and finally analysis of the results. The last two sections are very vital in justifying the results obtained from the research. Based on the results of the research, the curing period and composition of the cement significantly influence the compressive strength of the geopolymer cement. With the inclusion of aggregates and plasticizers, which were not used in this research, the geopolymer cement composed of rice husk ash, fly ash and palm frond ash has a high potential to be used in oil well cementing and might be an alternative for class G cement used currently, where further study is necessary in justifying it.