Applicability of Palm Oil Fuel Ash in Interlocking Compressed Earth Brick - A Preliminary Assessment

Abstract

This paper presents the preliminary assessment on the applicability of palm oil fuel ash (POFA) as one of the materials used to produce interlocking compressed earth brick (ICEB). Ultrafine size POFA was used to replace the main ingredient for ICEB production which is the clay soil. The percentages of replacement were limited to 0%, 10%, 20%, 30%, 40%, 50%, and 60% by weight of the total clay soil material. The main purpose of conducting the experiment is to identify the most desirable mix through compressive strength test. Result showed that, at the curing age of 28 days, the compressive strength of mixture that substituted with 30%-60% of ultrafine POFA achieved higher strength than the control mixture. Meanwhile, the highest compressive strength was obtained by batch series CP50 (50% clay soil + 50% ultrafine POFA). The experimental studies specified that ultrafine POFA has significant possibilities for application in manufacturing ICEB.