Recycled Rice & Wheat Straw Ash as Cement Replacement Materials

In this paper an experimental study was made on the effects of using Rice Straw Ash (RSA) & Wheat Straw Ash (WSA) as partial replacements of cement in mortar. The objects were to produce Nano Silica (NS) form RSA & WSA as agricultural wastes by using chemical acids. Then, control specimens with Ordinary Portland Cement (OPC) was made and in other specimen’s cement were replaced with 5%, 10%, 15% and 20% of RS & WS ashes by weight of cement. The workability was measured by the slump test. The pulse velocity and the sorptivity were also computed. The compressive and tensile strengths were also estimated. Experimental result showed that it was feasible to produce silica from WSA by chemical activation method. Also, the highest compressive strength, tensile strength and sorptivity noticed at 15% WSA.