Study on the Effects of Palm Oil Frond Ash (POFA) in Geopolymer Cement Properties

Geopolymerization is the current booming field of research for utilizing solid waste and
by-products. It does give a cost-effective solution to many problems where hazardous
residue has to be treated and stored at critical environmental conditions. From
geopolymerization, a new technology which is geopolymer cement also known as green
cement has been introduced. Geopolymer cement is also said to reduced greenhouse gas
footprints when compared to conventional cement slurries used in oil and gas well
cementing operations.
In this project, the writer has been assigned to carry out the study on geopolymer
characteristic properties of Palm Oil Frond Ash (POFA) and its effects as geopolymer
cement materials. The main objectives of this project are to study the properties of palm
oil frond ash based geopolymer, to find the compressive strength of the geopolymer
cement by using palm oil frond ash and will be decide whether palm oil frond ash can be
an alternative to replace the ordinary Portland cement (OPC) that we are currently using
or not.
The experiments will be done by mixing the POFA with other materials such as alkaline
activators to produce cement paste. The cement paste is then poured into specific mould
size and left for curing at different curing time and curing temperature. The results of
compressive strength test are recorded and analyzed.
In conclusion, the POFA geopolymer cement gives higher compressive strength in 12M
of sodium hydroxide solution and with increment of alkaline activators to POFA mass
ratio, the compressive strenght will increase but 100 percent of POFA geopolymer
cement might not be suitable to be used as cement replacement material.