KSCE Journal of Civil Engineering (2013) 17(7):1708-1713

Copyright 2013 Korean Society of Civil Engineers

DOI 10.1007/s12205-013-1241-9

Structural Engineering

pISSN 1226-7988, eISSN 1976-3808

www.springer.com/12205

Palm Oil Fuel Ash: Promising Supplementary Cementing Materials

S. O. Bamaga*, M. W. Hussin**, and Mohamed A. Ismail***
Received September 4, 2011/Revised April 10, 2012/Accepted January 31, 2013

Abstract
Palm Oil Fuel Ash (POFA) is by-product obtained by burning of fibers, shells and empty fruit bunches as fuel in palm oil mill
boilers. In this investigation, three ashes were collected from different palm oil mills around Malaysia and namely CAPOFA,
ALPOFA and KTPOFA. The ashes were ground to 45 m before replace 20% by weight of cement in concrete and mortar. The
compressive strength of concretes containing POFA was tested at ages of 7, 28 and 90 days. For durability aspects, concretes and
mortars were prepared to investigate the chloride and sulfate resistance respectively in accordance with appropriate ASTM standards.
Rapid Chloride Penetration Test (RCPT) was conducted in accordance with ASTM C1202 to investigate the ability of concretes
containing POFA to resist the penetration of chloride ions. Change in length and microstructure study for mortar bars containing
POFA immersed in sodium sulfate were conducted to evaluate the effects of sulfate attack on POFA mortars. Concrete and mortar
specimens were prepared using plain portland cement in order to use as control specimens. At age of 90 days, the results of
compressive strength of all POFA concretes were higher than control concrete. All concretes containing POFA showed higher
potential to resist chloride ions penetration compared to control concrete. All mortar bars containing POFA showed lower expansion
and less porous structure than control mortar. Depending on the results of this investigation, it could be concluded that POFA could
be successfully used as supplementary cementing materials to replace 20% of cement in concrete and mortar.
Keywords: palm oil fuel ash, pofa, compressive strength, chloride resistance, sulfate resistance, rcpt test, supplementary cementing
materials

1. Introduction
The cement industry consumes about 12-15% of the total
industrial energy use (Ali et al., 2011). Because of burning of
coal, fossil fuels, fuel oils and petroleum coke in a cement
manufacturing process to produce energy and maintain the
temperature as high as 1450 C in a kiln (Ali et al., 2011; Popescu
et al., 2003), approximately of 0.97 tone of CO2 is produced for
each tone of clinker produced (Anand et al., 2006), therefore; the
cement production process is classified as the second biggest
source that is responsible for 6.97% of CO2 emission in the
world (Metz et al., 2005). One approach to reduce the energy
used in cement industry and then CO2 emission is to substitute
high lime by low lime cement (Popescu et al., 2003). Alternatively,
replacing fossil fuels with wastes which may be considered as
carbon neutral and increasing the use of additives was led to
substantially reduction in energy and emissions of CO2 (Barker et
al., 2009). The need to reduce the CO2 emission caused by cement
production processes is increased due to the concerns of global
warming and climate changes but the use of such previous

techniques to reduce CO2 emission become limited (Barker et

al., 2009). One of the alternative significant approach to reduce
CO2 emission and conserve the natural energy sources is the
use of waste materials as Supplementary Cementing Materials
(SCM) to replace part of cement in concrete and mortar. It was
proven that the strength and durability of concrete and mortar
containing some waste materials such as silica fume, fly ash,
Ground Granulated Blast Furnace Slag (GGBS), rice husk ash,
Metakaolin and others are improved (Mehta, 1982; Toutanji
and El-Korchi, 1995; Shannag and Shaia, 2003; Poon et al.,
2006; Wang et al., 2008).
Palm oil is one of the most important agro industries in
Malaysia, Indonesia and Thailand. For example, Malaysia is
considered as the largest exporter by around 47% of world
exports of palm oil. Palm Oil Fuel Ash (POFA) is by product
obtained by burning of palm oil fibers, empty fruit bunches and
shells as fuel in palm oil mill boilers. Usually, about 85% fibers,
15% shells and empty fruit bunches are burned in boiler under
temperature of about 900-1000C to produce energy for
extracting process of crude palm oil. Waste ash of about 5% is

*Researcher, Construction Research Centre (UTM-CRC), Faculty of Civil Engineering, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, 81310 Skudai, Johor, Malaysia
(Corresponding Author, E-mail: soabamaga@gmail.com)
**Professor, Construction Research Centre (UTM-CRC), Faculty of Civil Engineering, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, 81310 Skudai, Johor, Malaysia (E-mail:
warid@utm.my)
***Professor, Construction Research Centre (UTM-CRC), Faculty of Civil Engineering, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, 81310 Skudai, Johor, Malaysia (E-mail:
m.elgelany@gmail.com)
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Palm Oil Fuel Ash: Promising Supplementary Cementing Materials

obtained and then disposed of to open fields causing traffic

hazard besides potential of health hazard leading to bronchi and
lung diseases (Tay and Show, 1995).
As a solution to these problems, many researchers have well
investigated the feasibility of using palm oil fuel ash as replacement
materials in concrete mixes. Tay (1990) had investigated the
feasibility of using shell and fiber palm oil ash as cement
replacement materials. The results showed that shell and fiber
ash can be blended in small amounts (up to 10%) with cement
for concrete making. Five years later, Tay and Show (1995) had
conducted a study on the use of oil-palm bunch ash as a partial
replacement material for Portland cement. The authors concluded
that the oil-palm bunch ash can be used as cement replacement
materials in small amounts (Up to 10%) without detrimental
effects on long-term strength property.
Jaturapitakkul et al. (2007), Weerachart et al. (2007), Rukzon
and Chindaprasirt (2009) and Weerachart et al. (2009) have
studied the compressive strength and durability of concrete
and mortar. Their studies have revealed that the compressive
strength and sulfate resistance are improved when ground
palm oil fuel ash is partially replaced cement in concrete or
mortar mixes. Chindaprasirt et al. (2008) studied the ability
of POFA mortar to resist the chloride ions penetration, the
results showed that the resistance to chloride penetration of
POFA mortar was substantially improved. All researchers
attributed the improvements in POFA mortar and concrete
behaviour to the pozzolanic reaction where the hydration
products react with the silica contained in POFA resulting in
highly dense and impermeable matrix, also, the researchers
found that the improvements in strength and sulfate resistance
properties are proportional with the fineness of ash.
In this research, compressive strength, chloride resistance of
concrete, sulfate resistance and microstructure of mortar containing
palm oil fuel ash were tested to investigate the feasibility of using
palm oil fuel ash as supplementary cementing materials and to
study the effects of POFAs source on strength, chloride and
sulfate resistance of concrete and mortar.

Fig. 1. Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) of CAPOFA

Fig. 2. Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) of ALPOFA

Fig. 3. Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) of KTPOFA

2. Experimental Program
2.1 Materials
2.1.1 Cement
Ordinary Portland cement was used in this study.
2.1.2 Palm Oil Fuel Ash
Three different palm oil fuel ashes were collected from three
different palm oil mills in Malaysia and namely CAPOFA,
KTPOFA and ALPOFA. The ashes were sieved through 300 m
sieve in order to eliminate undesired particles. The ashes were
ground by modified Loss Angeles abrasion machine to reduce
the particle size to 45 m. Sieving and grinding POFA to 45 m
or less is necessary in order to be used as cement replacement
material, otherwise raw POFA is only good as filler. However,
Vol. 17, No. 7 / November 2013

the cost of sieving and grinding POFA may compensate the cost
of environmental hazard from the discharge of the ash as landfill
or any other activities. Physically, POFA is grayish in color and
become dark with increasing proportions of unburned carbon
and it is finer than OPC (Awal and Hussin, 1997). The particles
shape of CAPOFA, KTPOFA and ALPOFA are clearly illustrated
in Figs. 1, 2 and 3 obtained using a scanning electron microscopy
method. The large particles of raw POFA become thinner,
irregular, and crushed formed particles as a result of grinding
process. Based on the chemical composition of POFA ashes and
cement presented in Table 1, CAPOFA are rich in silica content
and could be classified as class N pozzloana according to the
standard (ASTM C618-03, 2004). ALPOFA has high content of
silica and could be classified as class N pozzloana when LOI

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S. O. Bamaga, M. W. Hussin, and Mohamed A. Ismail

Table 1. Chemical Composition POFA Ashes and Cement

SiO2
Al2O3
Fe2O3
CaO
MgO
SO3
K2O
LOI

Cement
21.9
5.0
2.6
65.1
3.10
0.5
1.3

CAPOFA
58.30
6.69
9.77
6.72
3.69
0.96
8.40
7.34

ALPOFA
59.60
7.05
8.77
8.06
3.09
0.57
7.64
14.85

2.3 Testing Procedures

KTPOFA
52.50
8.83
5.73
11.30
3.55
0.82
10.20
6.72

2.3.1 Compressive Strength

Compressive strength of concretes was tested at ages of 7, 28
and 90 days using concrete cubes of 100 mm size. Specimens
were left covered by plastic sheeting for 24 hrs after casting then
demolded and cured in water tank until testing ages.

Table 2. Mix Proportion of Concrete Mixes

Mix proportion [kg/m3]
Fine Coarse
Cement POFA
Water
agg.
agg.
Control
500
711
1067
145
CAPOFA 400
100
711
1067
145
ALPOFA 400
100
711
1067
145
KTPOFA 400
100
711
1067
145
Mixes

SP
[liter]
11.5
11.5
11.5
11.5

W/B
0.28
0.28
0.28
0.28

requirement is ignored. However, LOI effect has been proven not

to be very effective (Al Amoudi et al., 1993). KTPOFA comply
with the requirements of class F pozzolana according to the
standard (ASTM C618-03, 2004).
2.1.3 Aggregates
Sand with specific gravity of 2.58, absorption of 2.04% and
fineness modulus of 3.21 and crushed granite of 10 mm size and
specific gravity of 2.60, absorption of 0.5% were used as fine
and coarse aggregates respectively.
2.2 Mix Proportion
2.2.1 Concrete
Control concrete mix was prepared using high amount of
cement (500 kg/m3). To control the negative effects of mixing
water, the ratio of water to cement was kept constant with
0.28, high water reducing admixture was added to maintain
the workability, the ratio of coarse to fine aggregate was 3:2
by weight. Part of ordinary portland cement in control
concrete mix was replaced by 20% by weight by ground
POFA in order to produce CAPOFA, ALPOFA and KTPOFA
concrete mixes (Table 2).
2.2.2 Mortar
Three mortar mixes were prepared according to standard
(ASTM C1012, 2004). The control mortar was made using
plain portland cement. The mixes used consist of 1 part
binder (cement + POFA) and 2.75 parts of sand proportioned
by mass. For control mix, water binder ratio of 0.485 was
used, and then the flow in 25 drops of the flow table was
recorded. Water binder ratio that is sufficient to develop a
flow within 5 of the reference mix flow was used for mixes
containing POFA.

2.3.2 Chloride Resistance

Rapid Chloride Penetration Test (RCPT) is widely used to rapidly
predict the ability of concrete to resist chloride ions penetration.
RCPT test was originally developed by Whiting in1981 and
standardized by ASTM C1202 in 1990th, 50-mm thick, 100-mm
diameter saturated concrete specimen is subjected to a 60 V
applied DC voltage for 6 hours using the apparatus illustrated in
ASTM C1202. In one reservoir is a 3.0% NaCl solution and in
the other reservoir is a 0.3 M NaOH solution. The total charge
passed, in coulombs, is determined and used to rate the concrete
according to the standard.
Concrete cylinders with 100 mm diameter and 200 mm height
were used. The specimen was prepared before carrying out the test,
where 50 mm slice was taken from the top of the cylinder to be the
test specimen, then the side surface of specimen was coated with
rapid setting, electrically nonconductive product. The specimen
was subjected to saturation vacuum in sealed desiccator for 3 hours
and for one additional hour after cover the specimen with deaerated water. Subsequently, the specimen was immersed in deaerated water for 18 hours then transferred to sealable container
which maintain specimen in 95% or higher relative humidity.
A potential difference of 60 V dc is maintained across the ends
of the specimen for 6 hrs, one of which (top surface of specimen)
is immersed in 3% by mass a sodium chloride solution, the other
in 0.3 N a sodium hydroxide solution. Along the period of test
the current was recorded every 30 minutes and each half of the
test cell was remained filled with the appropriate solution for the
entire period of the test.
2.3.3 Sulfate Resistance and Microstructure
Three mortar bars of 25 25 285 mm from each mix were
prepared and cured according to (ASTM C1012, 2004). Then,
the specimens were immersed in 5% of sodium sulfate Na2SO4
solution and the change in length of bars was recorded for 15
weeks. Field Emission Scanning Electron Microscopy (FESEM)
was conducted to study the microstructure of mortars after
immersing in sodium sulfate.

3. Results and Discussion

3.1 Compressive Strength
Compressive strength of control concrete and CAPOFA, ALPOFA
and KTPOFA concretes are illustrated in Fig. 4. In general, the
compressive strength of POFA concretes was developed with time
specially after age of 28 days. The compressive strength of
CAPOFA, ALPOFA and KTPOFA concretes are 39.31, 28. 79

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KSCE Journal of Civil Engineering

Palm Oil Fuel Ash: Promising Supplementary Cementing Materials

Fig. 4. Compressive Strength of Concretes

Fig. 6. Expansion Values of Mortar Bars

and 39.61 MPa at 7 days and 48.72, 36.87 and 41.58 MPa at 28
days respectively, which are generally lower than compressive
strength of control concrete at same ages, the reason is that POFA
concretes have less cement content, therefore; the produced
hydration products that are essential to forming the calcium silicate
hydrate gel are less than that of control concrete (Sata et al., 2007).
At 90 days, the compressive strength of CAPOFA, ALPOFA
and KTPOFA were significantly developed to possess 53.02,
51.95 and 53.44 MPa respectively. As POFA concretes compared
to control concrete, it could be observed that higher compressive
strength to that of control concrete could be gained at late ages
when 20% of cement replaced by CAPOFA, ALPOFA or
KTPOFA. This is due to the high amount of SiO2 content of
POFA that react with calcium hydroxide at later ages to produce
impermeable concrete by producing additional calcium silicate
hydrate gel (Weerachart et al., 2007; Weerachart et al., 2009;
Sata et al., 2007; Sata et al., 2004).
3.2. Chloride Resistance
The results of the RCPT test for control concrete and CAPOFA,
ALPOFA and KTPOFA concretes are shown in Fig. 5. The
analysis of results are based on duplicate specimens for each
concrete. After applying a potential difference of 60 V dc for 6
hrs across the ends of specimens, the average of charge passed
for control concrete was 731.7 (in coulombs). For CAPOFA,
ALPOFA and KTPOFA concretes, the average of charge passed
(in coulombs) was 276.3, 380.25 and 463.0 respectively. It is

Fig. 5. RCPT Test Results

Vol. 17, No. 7 / November 2013

clear to observe that a reduction of about 35% to 60% in the charge

passed was achieved with replacing 20% of cement by CAPOFA,
ALPOFA and KTPOFA. Chindaprasirt et al. (2008) was conducted
RCPT test on specimens of mortar containing 20% of POFA. It was
observed that the ability of POFA mortar to resist the penetration of
chloride ions was significantly improved. Also, it is worth to
mention that a reduction in charge passed of 60% was recorded by
Sharfuddin et al. (2008) when RCPT test was conducted on
concrete specimens containing 10% of silica fume.
The improvement in ability of CAPOFA, ALPOFA and
KTPOFA concretes to resist chloride ions penetration is due to
the reaction of SiO2 of POFA and calcium hydroxide that
improves the interfacial bonding between the aggregates and
pastes resulting in impermeable and dense concrete (Weerachart
et al., 2009; Zhang et al., 1996; Isaia et al., 2003).
3.3 Sulfate Resistance
The expansion values of control, CAPOFA, ALPOFA and

Fig. 7. FESEM Micrographs of Mortars: (a) Control, (b) CAPOFA,

(c) ALPOFA, (d) KTPOFA
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S. O. Bamaga, M. W. Hussin, and Mohamed A. Ismail

KTPOFA mortar bars are shown in Fig. 6. The expansion values

of CAPOFA, ALPOFA and KTPOFA mortar bars were essentially
lower than control mortar bars values. CAPOFA, ALPOFA and
KTPOFA were recorded expansion values of 0.047, 0.068 and
0.046% respectively compared to 0.075% for control mortar
bars. It is clear to observe that the expansion of mortar bars
immersed in sodium sulfate could be reduced up to 37% by
using CAPOFA or KTPOFA to replace 20% of cement in mortar
mixes and up to 9% only by using ALPOFA. This reduction in
expansion could be attributed to the pozzolanic reaction that
produce more calcium silicate hydrate gel and preventing
calcium hydroxide to react with sodium sulfate.
A typical Field Emission Scanning Electron Microscopy
(FESEM) of control and CAPOFA, ALPOFA and KTPOFA
mortars are shown in Fig. 7. The analysis of FESEM results are
based on three specimens for each mortar, taken from the center
of the cross section of the mortar bars. The FESEM micrographs
generally show porous structures with different degree for all
mortar types. Calcium silicate hydrate C-S-H gel could be
observed in CAPOFA and KTPOFA mortars, also, they are more
dense and homogenous. For control mortar, the micrograph
indicates generally C-S-H gel with amount of gypsum and pore
structures.

4. Conclusions
From the result of this study, the following conclusions can be
drawn:
1. POFA has high content of SiO2 and could be used to replace
20 % of Portland cement in concrete mix without any degradation in compressive strength at later ages.
2. The cost of preparation of POFA to be used as cementing
replacement material may compensate the cost of environmental hazard from the discharge of the ash as landfill or
any other activities.
3. The reaction of POFA starts at later ages after 28 days where silica oxide reacts with calcium hydroxide to produce C-S-H gel.
4. The resistivity of CAPOFA, ALPOFA and KTPOFA concretes to chloride ions penetration is substantially improved.
5. Improvement in sulfate resistance up to 37% could be
achieved when 20% of cement in mortar mix is replaced by
CAPOFA or KTPOFA ashes.
6. Consuming POFA as cementing materials in construction
industry may lead to expand the palm oil industry and
reduce the environmental problems and CO2 emission.

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