STUDY ON THE POZZOLANIC PROPERTIES OF HYDROTHERMAL SILICA GEL EXTRACTED FROM SUGARCANE BAGASSE USING ECO-FREENDLY APPROACH

In the production ofsustainable concrete, it is quite essential to develop highly
reactive silica rich materials to substitute cement. Sugarcane bagasse ashas one of the
agricultural based pozzolan gained less popularity due to its relatively low amorphous
silica content after incineration process (< 50% silica). Therefore, an alternative
approach was studied in this research to extract high proportion of amorphous silica
from sugarcane bagasse that fulfils the minimum requirement of pozzolanic standard.
The process was divided into three stages, which were obtaining optimum pre-treatment
variables, obtaining optimum burning variables, and substantiation of pozzolanic
feature. Pre-treatment variables were done to remove all impurities and deleterious
material from the ash. It involved soaking of bagasse in different concentration of
hydrochloric acid solution for different interval of time after which it was dried in a
dedicated solar drying chamber. Bagasse treated with optimum parameter would then
undergo burning process with various temperatures and durations.