BIOMASS AS

AGGREGATES FOR
CONCRETE: OVERVIEW
PRESENTED BY:
Tarun Jami,
PhD Scholar, AcSIR
INTRODUCTION
• Abundantly available resource
• Renewable and naturally occurring agro-forestry wastes
• Can be used as light-weight aggregates
• Maybe compatible with a wide variety of mineral and
organic binders
• Low-cost, almost free raw material
• Replaces mined materials
BIO-AGGREGATES
• Some of the commonly used biomass sources for
aggregates:
• Hemp shivs
• Sunflower stalks
• Flax stalks
• Wheat straw
• Arhar stalks
• Kenaf stalks
 CHEMICAL COMPOSITION
Material Cellulose Hemicellulose Lignin Pectin Ash
Hemp 34-52 12-31 21-28 1-6 2-3
Shivs

Flax Stalks 40 27 33 -- --
Sunflower 72 12 16 -- --
Approx. values in %

Source: Magniont et al., RILEM State-of-the-art, 23, pp.12

PHYSICAL COMPOSITION

Cross Section of
Hemp Stem

Source: Magniont et al., RILEM State-of-the-art Report, 23

EFFECTS ON CEMENT
HYDRATION
• Disturb setting and hardening mechanisms of mineral
binders; in early stage
• Modify the properties of concrete in hardened state
• Affect the durability of composite in long term
 EARLY STAGE EFFECTS
• Formation of halo
• 0-3mm – inhibition of
setting
• 3-8mm delay in setting
• >8mm setting not affected
• Decease in C-S-H
formation
• Increased CaCO3 around
particle
• Lignin – primary retardant
• Saccharides improve
performance, setting time
Source: Magniont et al., RILEM State-of-the-art Report, 23
MEDIUM AND LONG-TERM
EFFECTS
• Significant reduction in cohesion between plant particles
and mineral binder
• Powdering of binder
• 25% reduction in compressive strength
• Alkaline degradation of individual fibres
• Embrittlement of fibres due to mineralization
REMEDIES
• Pre-treatment of Ligno-cellulosic materials
• Removal of deleterious components
• Treatment with alkaline solutions
• Hydrophobic coating of particles
• Treatment with mineral binder compatible compounds,
silanes etc.
• Modification of Binders
• Addition of accelerators
• Forced injection of CO2
CONCLUSION
• Ligno-cellulosic particles are detrimental to the properties
and hardening mechanism of cement
• Pozzolanic action is inhibited
• Complex detrimental chemical mechanisms need to be
better understood
• Biomass can still be made compatible with mineral
binders
• Extent of reduction in properties may still be within
desirable range depending on application
THANK YOU