VIABILITY OF WOOD ASH AS A PRECURSOR IN GEOPOLYMER CONCRETE

Geopolymer concrete is a type of construction material that utilizes industrial byproducts or natural materials rich in silicon and aluminum such as wood ash, fly ash, Rice Husk Ash etc activated by alkali solutions, to create a binder that can replace or supplement traditional cement binders and provides an avenue for utilizing industrial byproducts, Geopolymer concrete holds significant promise for advancing sustainable construction practices, reducing environmental impacts, and improving the performance and longevity of infrastructure. The aim of this research is to study and understand wood ash based Geopolymer concrete the innovative construction material, its properties, optimizing its production processes, and exploring its potential applications. The objectives of this study were to; explore ways to decrease the negative environmental impact associated with cement production, and reliance on non-renewable resources by utilizing waste materials, develop and optimize mix design that achieve desired mechanical properties, durability and other performance characteristics, evaluate its mechanical properties such as compressive strength, make concrete using geopolymer. At the end of the project work, it was discovered that the produced concrete was lightweight and setting time of concrete was greatly delayed also the compressive strength of produced concrete using wood ash as precursor was relatively low from the crushing result due to the chemical composition of the ash and curing method adopted. It is recommended that further study be conducted on the reaction mechanism of geopolymerization to establish a more ascertained parameter and explore utilization of geopolymer in many other applications.