Performance of Concrete Containing Palm Oil Shell as Coarse Aggregate Replacement

Abstract

The use of sustainable materials in the construction industry is becoming a trend these days. This study investigates an environmentally friendly and affordable alternative for the lightweight concrete industries, exploring the usage of palm oil shells (POS) as an aggregate replacement. POS is a by-product of the palm oil industry. This study aims to investigate the performance of POS in concrete mixes in terms of workability, compressive strength, and density. The POS is of size 12 mm. The concrete samples are prepared using POS to partially replace coarse aggregate at 0%, 5.0%, 15%, and 25%. The water-cement ratio of 0.5 is selected because it provided the most suitable workability for concrete with partial replacement of the coarse aggregate with POS. The results of compressive strength show that the strength of concrete decreased with increasing POS concrete. However, the strength indicates that a concrete mix with 15% partial replacement of POS has a compressive strength of 26.01 MPa on the 28th day, which is much greater than 0% POS (i.e. the controlled sample), which has a lower value of 24.56 MPa.