Rice Husk Ash in Concrete: A Review of Cement Replacement Proportions and Mechanical Properties

In the last few decades, the demand for cement production increased due to the increased number of populaces to secured homes accompanied by the government and private’s effort to provide other infrastructures in the nation. Cement production is an energy intensive processes which caused a massive ecological issue by emitting up to 8% of the global carbon dioxide. Research studies reported that using agricultural by-products as a partial replacement for cement in concrete production can improved the overall performance of concrete and improved environmental protection. Subsequently Rice Husk Ash (RHA) has gained significant recognition in the field of concrete technology due to its potential as a supplementary cementitious material. This review article aims to provide a comprehensive analysis of the impact of rice husk ash (RHA) on the mechanical properties of concrete and to examine optimum replacement proportions for optimum strength. The study outlines relevant experimental research topics where Thirty-five relevant research papers from different research journals have been selected using keywords search in the google scholar, however sixteen experimental research papers from these papers are summarized briefly outlining the author names, title of the study, research aims, methodology used and findings. while the remaining papers were read understood and used in the development of the article. Among the finding of this review it has been observed that gradual increase in the rice husk ash (RHA) replacement ratio leads to the decrease in the concrete slump and reduced workability. it has been observed that optimal strength of mechanical properties is obtained at 5% to 20% cement replacement by (RHA), but depending upon the chemical composition of the rice husk ash which is affected by the region from which (RHA) is obtained.