Experiment Study of Catalysed Lignocellulosic Biomass Thermoelectric Concrete with Active Solution

Abstract

Emission of CO2 becomes one of the global challenges and catalyzed lignocellulosic biomass thermoelectric concrete (CBC) is a new source of energy which helps to encounter this challenge. CBC is an advance class of concrete, which has proven to be able to generate voltages throughout thermal change, but several drawbacks were reported such as low voltage and insufficient compressive strength to meet construction industry needs. This study intends to investigate the incorporation of active solution like alkali/acidic solution as activation booster, palm oil fuel ash (POFA) as partial cement replacement and catalyst for charges extraction, under thermal changes. Active solutions used in this study were Sodium Hydroxide, Iron(III) Sulfate, and Copper(II) Sulfate. Specimens with dimension of 50 x 50 x 20mm and 150x150x150mm were prepared and cured accordingly; then tested its conductivity with temperature ranged from 0oC to 100oC; and uniaxial compressive strength test, respectively. The experiment has proven that incorporation of active solution in CBC mix is able to enhance both voltage supply and compressive strength by average 249.73% and 41.64% (with active solution Fe2(SO4)3), respectively. With a complete circuit, it can be noticed that specimen’s voltage density is directly proportional to exposed temperature, from 38.35 V/m2 at 0oC to 129.67 V/m2 at 100oC. The study has proven that CBC with addition of active solution is able to enhance the matured compressive strength and at the same time, carrying voltage when a complete circuit is applied. With this, the application of CBC in construction industry has been increased to structural application for alternative renewable energy source.