A STUDY ON PARTIAL REPLACEMENT OF CEMENT

WITH POWDERED EGG SHELLS IN SCC CONTAINING

STEEL SLAG SAND
PROJECT REFERENCE NO.: 38S0180
COLLEGE

: BMSCE BANGALORE

BRANCH

: DEPARTMENT OF CIVIL ENGINEERING

GUIDE

: DR. S. GIRISH

STUDENTS : MS. AKSHAYA L IYER

MR. NAGARAJ K M
MR. NISCHAL DAS
Keywords: SCC, egg shell, eco friendly concrete, slag sand, GGBS
Introduction:
The idea for our project originated from the sight of waste egg shells lying in piles on
land masses in rural Karnataka. Egg shells generally contain similar chemical composition as
cement, with high percentage of calcium oxide, making it an ideal supplementary cementitious
material. There have been a few papers which conducted a study on egg shell concrete, and they
conclude that partial replacement of up to 5% by weight of cement provides satisfactory results,
beyond which there is a steep reduction in strength. Our studies also consisted of partial
replacement of natural sand with steel slag sand, which is yet another waste material lying in
steel plants across Karnataka.
Objectives:
1. To study the fresh properties and to assess the compressive strength of SCC using egg
shell powder (ESP), a waste material, as partial replacement for cement.
2. To compare the fresh and hardened properties of the concrete when 100% natural sand is
used as fine aggregate, with the same when 50% is replaced with steel slag sand.
Methodology:
1. Materials used were powdered egg shells (<90 microns), cement 53 grade, GGBS, natural
sand , steel slag sand, coarse aggregates, water, chemical admixture (Superplasticizer:
BASF Master Glenium Sky 8233)
2. Egg shells procured from hatchery were first cleaned and sun dried, then powdered and
burnt at 700C.
3. The project was carried out in 2 phases:

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Phase 1: 100% natural sand

Phase 2: 50% natural sand 50% steel slag sand
The SCC mixes were designed using absolute volume concept.
Initially, cubes of normal concrete were cast for 3 different cement contents 300, 375
and 450 as a benchmark for comparison with the subsequent SCC mixes.
In the first stage with 100% natural sand, replacement of cement by ESP was done by
volume, for 0,5,10,15,20% for an initial volume of paste = 0.37.
The second phase was done by replacing 50% of fine aggregate with steel slag sand,
while keeping the rest of the parameters constant.
Once the optimum percentage of ESP was found, trial mixes at a different Vp were done.
In all mixes, slump flow and T-50 were measured for fresh properties. The cubes were
then tested for 3, 7, 28 day strengths.

Fig 1: Egg Shells from Hatchery

Fig 3: Powdered Egg Shells

Fig 2: Steel Slag Sand

Fig 4: Burnt Powdered Egg Shells

Results and Conclusions:

From the studies performed, it is observed that as the w/c ratio increased, the compressive
strength decreased. This trend is similar to the well established Abrams law for normal concrete
which states that the strength increases as the w/c ratio reduces. Compressive strength in both
phases was increased with addition of ESP up to a certain optimum value of 5%, and then was
comparable to SCC without ESP. In either case, SCC showed higher compressive strength than
normal concrete.
1. Mixes with 100% natural sand had better flowability as compared with mixes that used
50% slag sand.
2. Slag sand, having higher water absorption than natural sand, required more water per m3.
3. It was noticed that the mixes using slag sand were harsher than mixes with natural sand
only, and extra dose of SP in such mixes led to bleeding of concrete as well as
segregation of aggregates.
4. We inferred that maximum compressive strength values were observed for SCC with 5%
ESP replacement.
5. The compressive strength values of ESP concrete are approximately the same as that of
SCC without egg shells till 15% ESP replacement.
6. Beyond 15%, we noticed a decrease in compressive strength.
Phase 1:

Phase 2:
Comparison of NC, SCC, ESP SCC

80
60
40
20
0
0.4

0.5

0.6

w/c ratio
NC

SCC

ESP 5%

0.7

28 day compressive strength

(MPa)

28 day compressive strength

(MPa)

Comparison of NC, SCC, ESP SCC

80
60
40
20
0
0.4

0.5

0.6

0.7

w/c ratio
NC

SCC

ESP 5%

Figure: Compressive strength verses w/c ratio

Future work:
1. An alternative form of ESP concrete may be studied by replacing GGBS with fly ash.
2. Mixes for different volume of paste may be cast and strength can be compared.
3. Behavior of mixes with different percentage replacement of steel slag sand can also be
studied.