Green concrete partially comprised of rice husk ash as a supplementary cementitious material - A comprehensive review

The production of cement depletes natural resources, consumes high energy and emits huge amounts of green house gases. It accounts for almost 7% of the global carbon dioxide emissions, as the production of one ton of ordinary Portland cement releases approximately one ton of carbon dioxide. Due to the severe environmental pollution and health hazards associated with the cement and construction industries, they are under the strict scrutiny from the governments and environmentalists. Rice husk is an agricultural waste, whose natural degradation is restricted due to the irregular abrasive surface and high siliceous composition. It is not appropriate to be used as a feed for animals due to the low nutritional values. If dumped as landfill, they can take a lot of area and become a major challenge to the environment. If they are disposed by burning, the ashes can spread to the surrounding areas, create pollution and destroy the natural beauty. One of the possible solutions for the disposal of rice husk is to convert them into rice husk ash and incorporate them into cement based materials. The partial inclusion of rice husk ash (RHA) for cement is found to be durable, environmental friendly and economically viable. This paper presents an overview of some of the published results on the successful utilization of rice husk ash as a supplementary cementitious material and the properties of such concrete at fresh and hardened stages. Studies indicate that there is a promising future for the use of rice husk ash in normal, high strength and self compacting concrete as it shows high strength, low shrinkage and permeability, high resistance to carbonation, chloride, sulfate and acidic environments. The summery and discussions provided in this paper should provide new information and knowledge on the applications of greener and sustainable rice husk ash concrete.