IRJET- Pulp Black Liquor as an Admixture in Concrete

International Research Journal of Engineering and Technology (IRJET) e-ISSN: 2395-0056
Volume: 06 Issue: 05 | May 2019 www.irjet.net p-ISSN: 2395-0072
© 2019, IRJET | Impact Factor value: 7.211 | ISO 9001:2008 Certified Journal | Page 5378
PULP BLACK LIQUOR AS AN ADMIXTURE IN CONCRETE
ANJANA GEORGE1, MUHAMMED ALTHAF2, SABIR HASSAN K P3, JOFFIN GEORGE4
1,2,3B.Tech Student, Department of Civil Engineering, ILM College of Engineering and Technology, Kerala, India
4M.Tech, Assistant Professor, ILM College of Engineering and Technology, Kerala, India
---------------------------------------------------------------------***----------------------------------------------------------------------
Abstract - Concrete plays a major role in the field of
construction. The main composition of concrete is cement,
coarse aggregate, fine aggregate and water. One major
challenge facing the civil engineering community istoexecute
projects in harmony with nature using the concept of
sustainable development involving the use of high
performance, environment friendly materials produced at
reasonable cost. Nowadays to improve the characteristics of
concrete, addition of admixture to the concrete is widely used.
Here in this project, we introduce easily available and cost
effective admixture pulp black liquor (PBL), a byproduct from
paper industry. The continuous discharge of pulp black liquor
to the land will cause serious environmental issues. So by
adding pulp black liquor to concrete as an admixture, can
reduce environmental issues and improve the properties of
concrete like workability, compressive strength and split
tensile strength.
Key Words: Concrete, Admixture, PBL, Metakaolin.
1. INTRODUCTION
Concrete is a composite material composed of coarse
aggregates and filler materials embedded in a hardmatrix of
material (the cement or binder) that fills the voids between
the aggregate particles and glues them together. Here we
should indicate that admixtures are almost always used in
modern construction practice and thus become an essential
component of modern concrete. Admixtures are defined as
materials other than fine and coarse aggregate, water, fibre
and cement, which are added into concrete batch
immediately during or before mixing. Due to the increased
demand it is necessary to find a low cost admixture.
The pulp black liquor, a waste product from paper industry
which has low viscosity and high solubility and it is readily
available; due to these factors we are trying to use it as an
admixture in concrete. Black liquor is used as an important
liquid fuel in the pulp and paper industry. It consists of the
remaining substances after the digestive process where the
cellulose fibres have been separated out from the wood.
Lignin is the major ingredient in pulp black liquor, which is
the material in trees that binds wood fibres together and
makes them rigid, and which must be removed from wood
fibres to create paper.
Fig .1: Pulp Black Liquor
1.1 Objectives
 To develop Pulp Black Liquor(PBL) modified
concrete by introducing pulp liquor produced
during the pulping process in paper industry.
 To study the effect of PBL in the properties of
ordinary concrete.
 To find the optimum dosage of Pulp Black Liquor.
 Compare the result obtained from PBL modified
concrete and with the concrete incorporate with
metakiolin.
2. EXPERIMENTAL INVESTIGATION
2.1 Materials Used
 The waste of pulp black liquor from paper industry
was provided by Canara Paper Mill, Changanassery.
 OPC 53 grade cement.
 M sand as fine aggregate.
 20mm size coarse aggregate.
 Metakaolin from Astra Chemicals, Chennai.
2.2 Properties of Material
The physical properties of cement, fine aggregate, coarse
aggregate are tabulated in table 1.

Table 1: Physical properties of material
Sl .
no
Property Results
obtained
1
Specific gravity of cement 3.19
2
Specific gravity of fine
aggregate
2.64
3
Specific gravity of coarse
aggregate
2.69
4
Water absorption of coarse
aggregate
0.5%
5
Fineness modulus of fine
aggregate
3.78
6
Fineness modulus of coarse
aggregate
3.05
2.3 Preparation of specimen
For M25 grade concrete
Water cement ratio = 0.47
Cement: Sand: Coarse aggregate: water = 1 : 1 : 2 : 0.47
Sum of proportions by weight = 4.47
Table 2: Quantity of material
Cement
(kg)
Fine
aggregate
(kg)
Coarse
aggregate
(kg)
Water
content
(kg)
For 1m3
536.9 536.8 1073.8 252.3
For 1 cube
2.08 2.08 4.16 0.98
For 1 cylinder
3.28 3.28 6.55 1.54
2.4 Tests on Specimen
(i) Slump test
The slump test was carried out as per IS 1199:1959,tostudy
the workability of concrete in the laboratory during the
progress of the work or in the field and to check the
uniformity of the concrete from batch to batch. Apparatus
used are mould for slump test, non porous base plate,
measuring scale, tamping rod etc. The mouldforthetestwas
in the form of frustum of the cone having height 30cm,
bottom diameter 20cm and stop diameter 10 cm, which
shown in Fig.2. The tamping rod of steel 16mm diameter
and 60mm long and rounded at one end. The IS
specifications for slump test as per IS456:2000areshownin
table 3.
Fig .2: Slump test
Table 2: IS Specifications for Slump Test (IS 456 :2000)
Degree of Workability Slump Value
(mm)
Very low < 25
Low 25 – 75
Medium 50 – 100
High 100 – 150
Very High > 150
(i) Compressive strength test
Compressive strength is the abilityofmaterial orstructureto
carry the loads on its surface without any crack or deflection.
A material under compression tends to reducethesize,while
in tension, size elongates.Compressive strength of concrete
cube test provides an idea about all the characteristics of
concrete.
By this single test onejudgethatwhetherconcretinghasbeen
done properly or not. Concrete compressive strength for
general construction varies from 15 MPa to 30 MPa and
higher in commercial and industrial structures.Compressive
strength of concretedependson many factorssuch as water-
cement ratio, cement strength, quality of concrete material,
quality control during production of concrete etc.
Compressive strength was measured on hardened concrete
with a calibrated hydraulic press according to the ECP using
concrete cubic specimens of 150 mm side length.

Fig.3: Compression testing machine
(ii) Tensile strength test
The tensile strength of concrete is one of the basic and
important properties which greatlyaffecttheextentand size
of cracking in structures. Moreover, the concrete is very
weak in tension due to its brittle nature. Hence, it is
not expected to resist the direct tension. So, concrete
develops cracks when tensile forces exceed its tensile
strength. Therefore, it is necessary to determine the tensile
strength of concrete to determine the load at which the
concrete members may crack.Furthermore, splitting tensile
strength test on concrete cylinder is a method to determine
the tensile strength of concrete. Test for splitting tensile
strength was carried out in compression testing machine.
The test setup is shown in Fig.4.
Fig.4: Loading arrangement of split tensile strength test
3. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
3.1 Slump Test
Concrete slump test or slump cone test is to determine the
workability or consistency of concrete mix prepared at the
laboratory or the construction siteduringtheprogressofthe
work. The Fig. 4 shows the effect of the addition of the
bamboo black liquor on concrete slump. Workability of the
concrete mixes with 0%, 0.5%, 1.0%, 1.5% and 2%
replacement of water with black liquor was determined.
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
100
110
0 1 2 3
slump(mm)
PBL cocentration (%)
PBL Concentration Vs Slump
Slump
Fig.5: Variation in workability
The black liquor acts as a dispersing agent by neutralizing
the electrostatic charges of the concrete mixture, especially
the cement. This neutralization minimizes agglomeration of
the solid particles allowing them to mix better with water.
This will increase workability. The amount of paper pulp
replacement, paper pulp physical properties and the carbon
content of the paper pulp would be the main reasons for the
reduction of concrete workability.
3.2 Compressive Strength Test
(i) PBL used as admixture in concrete
Concrete mix with varying concentration, 0%, 0.5%, 1.0%,
1.5% and 2.0% of PBL admixtures are tested. Fig.6
represents the effect of using bamboo black liquor on the
compressive strength of concrete.
0
4
8
12
16
20
24
28
32
36
0 1 2 3
Compressivestrength(N/mm2)
PBL Concentration (%)
PBL Concentration Vs Compressive
Strength
Compressive
Strength
Fig.6: Variation of compressive strength with PBL after 28
days
Increasing the black liquor amount abovea certainlimit may
reduce concrete compressive strength due to the extra
amount of the charged ions that may recharge the solids
again reducing their ability to mix with water. Hence, both

the slump and the compression strength will start to
decrease with the extra increase in the black liquor amount
above a maximum value At 1% black liquorreplacement, the
maximum compressivestrengthobtainedafter28daycuring
is 33.33 MPa, which is more than the compressive strength
of M25 grade conventional concrete
(ii) Metakaolin used as admixture in concrete
0
4
8
12
16
20
24
28
32
36
0 1 2 3
Compressivestrength
(N/mm2)
Metakaolin concentration (%)
Metakaolin Concentration Vs Compressive
Strength
Compressiv
e Strength
Fig.7: Variation of compressive strength with Metakaolin
after 28 days
When we test the concrete cubes withvaryingconcentration
of metakaolinadmixture,anincreasingcompressivestrength
was observed up to 1.5 % addition of metakaolin. The
maximum compressive strength obtained is 30.22MPa.
3.2.1 Comparison of Compressive Strength
In this project work, the compression test on concrete was
carried out by adding PBL admixture and metakaolin
admixture sepparately. The comparative study of PBL
modified concrete with conventional concrete and
metakaolin modified concrete are shown in Fig.7. After the
study it is revealed that about 1% PBL admixture improves
the compressive strength of theM25gradeconcreteto33.33
MPa. Which will be greater than the compressive strengthof
conventional concrete as well as the metakaolin modified
concrete? The conventional concrete is represented by CC,
and the compressive strength obtained is about 26.67 MPa.
At the same time the maximum compressive strength of
30.22 MPa achieved at 1.5% of metakaolin is added to the
mix. This is more than the conventional concrete. But, less
than the PBL modified concrete.
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
40
CC 0.5 1 1.5 2
Compressivestrength
(N/mm2)
Admixture concentration (%)
PBL
Metakaolin
Fig.8: Comparison of compressive strength
3.3 TENSILE STRENGTH TEST
(i) PBL used as admixture in concrete
The cylindrical specimen with varying concentration of PBL
admixture was subjected to a sustained varying tensileforce
until their ultimate load carrying capacity or failure of
specimen. It can be observed that the tensile strength is
increases from 3.68 MPa to 5.66 MPa.
0
0.5
1
1.5
2
2.5
3
3.5
4
4.5
5
5.5
6
0 1 2 3
Tensilestrength(N/mm2) PBL Concentration
PBL concentration Vs Tensile strength
Tensile
strength
Fig.9: Variation of tensile strength with PBL concentration
(ii) Metakaolin used as admixture in concrete
The test was carried out to obtain split tensile strength of
M25 grade concrete. The split tensile strength of concrete is
tested for 28 days for 0%, 0.5%, 1%, 1.5% and 2%
replacement of metakaolin The maximumtensilestrengthof
4.95 MPa is achieved when about more than 1.5 % of
metakaolin is added to the concrete mix.
0
0.5
1
1.5
2
2.5
3
3.5
4
4.5
5
5.5
0 1 2 3
Tensilestrength(N/mm2)
Metakaolin Concentration
Metakaolin concentration Vs Tensile strength
Tensile
strength
Fig.10: Variation of tensile strength with Metakaolin
concentration

3.3.1 Comparison of Tensile Strength
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
CC 0.5 1 1.5 2
Tensilestrength(N/mm2)
Admixture concentration (%)
PBL
Metakaolin
Fig.10: comparison of split tensile strength
Fig.10 shows the variation of splitting tensile strength Vs
concentration of admixture. In this project, we are carried
out a comparative study on strength of PBL modified
concrete with conventional concrete and also with
metakaolin modified concrete. In the case of mixing 1% of
PBL in concrete, the splitting tensile strength having higher
value of 5.66MPa when compared with CC.
4. CONCLUSIONS
The project work consists of testing concrete cubes and
cylinders to understand the performance of compressive
strength and tensile strength withvarying percentageofPBL
admixture and metakaolin admixture. Based on the
investigations, the following conclusions have been drawn:
(i) It is inferred from the studies that the initial setting
time is greater than 30 minutes and decreases with
addition of PBL when compared with normal
practice.
(ii) The main reason for reduction of workability may
be attributed to the quantity of PBL applied and its
physical properties and carbon content.
(iii) The study clearly revealed that the application of
1% PBL admixture improves the compressive
strength of M25 grade concrete to 33.33 MPa. This
combination clearly indicates increase in
compressive strength above than that of
conventional concrete and metakaolin modified
concrete. This shows the positive effect of pulp
black liquor on the properties of concrete.
(iv) The addition of PBL waste to cement led to the
formation of electrostatic repulsive forces between
cement particles and in turn the adsorption of the
liquor waste onto the cement surfacewhichreduces
the inter particle attraction between the cement
particles and helps to enhance the compressive
strength.
(v) It can be observed that split tensile strength
increases with increasing replacement of PBL
admixture upto 1% give maximum tensile strength.
The tensile strength is inceases from 3.68 MPa to
5.66 MPa.
(vi) The maximum tensile strength obtained when
metakaolin is used as admixture is 4.95MPa, which
is greater than the conventional concrete. But, it is
lower when PBL is used as admixture in concrete.
(vii) The pulp black liquor waste activates the cement
phase and improves the rate of hydration. There
was an increase in water absorption of the concrete
mixes as the content of the paper pulp increased.
This phenomenon is expectedsincemoreamountof
paper pulp in term of quantity will involve in the
hydration process.
(viii) Metakaolin is an another locally available
admixture. Since, the cost is high when compared
to the PBL and require large quantity to meet the
required strength of the concrete. Hence , it is
concluded that the PBL admixture is most effective
and economically viable and technically feasible to
improve the properties of concrete.
(ix) It is finally concluded that the use of black liquor
produced by M/S Canara Paper Mill in
Changanassery, as a partial replacement for mixing
water improved workability, compressivestrength,
tensile strength and setting time without harmful
effects on concrete durability.
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