Development of Lightweight Concrete Using Industrial Waste Palm Oil Clinker

Concrete is a major material used in the construction of buildings and structures in the world. Gravel and sand are the major ingredients of concrete but are non-renewable natural materials. Therefore, the utilisation of palm oil clinker (POC), a solid waste generated from palm oil industry is proposed to replace natural aggregate in this research to reduce the demand for natural aggregates. One mix of ordinary concrete as control concrete; while four mix proportions of oil palm clinker concrete were obtained by replacing 25%, 50%, 75%, and 100% of gravel and sand of control concrete with coarse and fine oil palm clinker respectively by volume, with same cement content and water cement ratio. Compressive strength test was carried out of concretes with different percentages of oil palm clinker; whereas water absorption tests according to respective standard, were carried out to determine the durability properties of various mixes. Based on the results obtained, the study on the effect of percentage of clinker on strength and durability properties was drawn. According to ACI classification of light weight concrete only the 100 percentage replacement can achieve the definition of light weight concrete since its density is less than 1,900 kg/m³ and strength larger than 17 MPa. Eventually the 25% replacement of the normal aggregate by the OPC will improve the strength and durability of the concrete.