Production of Portland pozzolana cement from rice husk ash

This study investigates the compressive strengths of mortar prisms of Portland pozzolana cement (PPC) samples prepared with 6.67-20.00% compositions of rice husk ash (RHA) as the pozzolanic constituents. CEN standard sand-cement, and pit sand-cement mortar prisms were separately prepared using cement-sand blend ratio 1:3. The optimum strength of the CEN standard sand-cement mortar prisms after 1, 2, 7, and 28 days was recorded at 20.00% RHA composition. However, the compressive strength of the pit sand-cement mortar prisms, with 20.00% RHA was low on the 7th and 28th day. The micrographs obtained for the scanning electron microscopy (SEM), as well as the spectra obtained from the Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) and X-Ray diffraction (XRD) analyses, reveal characteristic properties of the RHA and 20% RHA-cement which makes the RHA a suitable pozzolanic material for PPC production.