THE 28TH CONFERENCE OF THE FEDERATION OF ENGINEERING ORGANIZATIONS

THE 28TH CONFERENCE OF THE FEDERATION OF ENGINEERING ORGANIZATIONS

THE 28 TH CONFERENCE

OF THE FEDERATION OF ENGINEERING ORGANIZATIONS CAFEO 28 HANOI VIETNAM, 30 TH NOV - 2 ND DEC., 2010

TITLE:

PALM FRONDS CEMENT-BONDED BLOCKS (PFCBB)

(Please see separate sheet for the photo)

AUTHOR(S)’

NAME(S):

Engr Rodolfo B Solomon Engr Mary Lynn G Magbanua

ORGANIZATION

& DESIGNATION:

Faculty Members, Sultan Kudarat State University – Isulan Campus, Isulan, Sultan Kudarat, Philippines

ADDRESS: SKSU-Isulan Campus, Isulan, Sultan KUdarat

EMAIL:

rudybsolomon@yahoo.com marylynnmagbanua@yahoo.com

ABSTRACT: Oil Palm Industry in the Philippines has been considered as one of the dollar earning

commodity In Sultan Kudarat Province alone, the area planted with palm is 9,195.56 hectare and

still increasing by about 3,000 hectares per year Palms are usually pruned every 15 days and the

pruned fronds are usually used for “kalakat” and sometimes are burned or left in plantations to rot

The use of chipped fronds as a sand substitute in the fabrication of palm fronds residue hollow

concrete unit would be very beneficial in reducing harmful environmental effects and financial cost

The volumetric ratio for all the treatments of this unit was (1:3:4) or one part cement, three parts

sand and four parts chipped palm fronds with three replicates produced for testing It was found

out that palm fronds indicated compatibility with Portland cement and their compressive strengths

were comparable and passed the prescribed standards set by the ASTM for non-load bearing blocks

I Rationale

Studies on cement bonded-board (CBB), a panel product made up of wood and non wood

lignocellulosic fibrous materials and a general purpose Portland cement were already researched for

the past years A very typical type of CBB is the wood wool cement board (WWCB) As the

name implies, it is made of shredded wood that are held together by a cement to form a board

A number of wood species that were found to be suitable for WWCB manufacture are

kaatoan bangkal (Anthocephalus chinensis), antipolo (Artocarpus communis), yemane (Gmelina arborea), giant ipl-ipil (Leucaena leucocephala), binuang (Octomeles Sumatra) and many more6) The suitability of some Philippine grown Australian introduced species like acacias and eucalyptus for WWCB have been reported and contributed significantly in determining their technically viable for board manufacture1-4)

Expansion of raw material base is a continuing process in the development of composite panels Available lignocellulosic fibrous materials that have the potential of being a component for WWCB have to be considered In WWCB technology however, board properties vary depending

on the wood species used and its subsequent effects on wood to cement ratio, amount of water, board density, cement setting accelerator, etc

The worldwide acceptance of Wood Wool Cement Board proves its versatility and, not least important, its durability in any climatic condition 7)

Conventional hollow concrete masonry unit (HCMU) consists of sand as its aggregate and cement as its binder However, there is a growing interest in substituting alternative aggregates materials, largely as a potential use for recycled materials There is significant research on many different materials for aggregate substitutes such as granulated coal ash, blast furnace slag or various solid waste including fiber glass or various solid waste including fiberglass waste materials, granulated plastics, paper, wood product and others 8)

Oil palm, which is considered to be abundant in the Philippines, needs to be studied for cement board production The oil palm industry in Sultan Kudarat started in 1966 with 4,500 hectares nucleus farm and out growers’ scheme In 2008 report, it has reached 9,195.56 hectares distributed in the different municipalities as follows: Bagumbayan 649.15, Columbio 943.15, Esperanza 308.09, Isulan 2,660.77, Lambayong 506.64, Lutayan 82.06, President Quirino 1,025.65, Sen Ninoy Aquino 170.57 and Tacurong City 2,849.48 In 2000, there was a significant increase

in the number of hectarage planted to palm trees According to Calong (2010) of Kenram Industrial Development Inc (KIDI), there was an increase of 1,000 hectares per year since 2000 and AGUMIL with 3,000 hectares per year and still increasing up to this time

In some parts of Sultan Kudarat, palm fronds weaving provide a source of living to some of its citizen Palm fronds are hard, fibrous, flexible materials used for “ kalakat ” making The fronds extracted from palm fronds produces a soft residue which contains fibers and estimated amounts of this residue is about 1.3million tones per annum Large quantities of this waste are unused

This paper explores the possibility of utilizing these residue as an alternative aggregates in hollow CMU and specifically aimed to lessen the amount of natural aggregates and replace it by palm fronds residue to minimize the natural aggregates needed

II Objectives

The main objective of this research is to make building blocks out of palm fronds waste and compare it with the conventional HCMU Specifically, it determined:

1 The compressive strength of cured and uncured PFCBB in 7, 14 and 28 days

2 The compressive strength of cured and uncured HCMU in 7, 14 and 28 days

3 The significant difference between the compressive strength of cured and uncured PFCBB

4 The significant difference between the compressive strength of cured PFCBB and the cured commercial blocks

III Methodology

Research design

The variables involved are chipped palm fronds, cement, sand and water The unit was put through a compression test using the Universal Testing Machine (UTM) The boards were tested after 7, 14 and 28 days with curing and without curing The volumetric ratio used was (1:3:4) or one part cement, 3 parts sand and four parts chipped palm fronds with three replicates was produced for testing

Manufacturing Procedure

In order to meet the requirements needed in this study material gathering and good manufacturing procedures were followed

Materials

The inner portion of the oil palm fronds were used as raw material and general-purpose Portland cement was used as binder

Methods

1 Collection:

Palm fronds were taken from the farm and from the kalakat weavers of Sultan Kudarat

2 Shredding

Oil palm fronds were processed through a shredding machine to produce wood wool or wood strands with approximately 0.40 mm thick and 4-5 mm wide

3 Pretreatment

Shredded materials were soaked in water for 24 hours to leach out water soluble extractives that are inhibitory to cement setting This will be followed by air drying to attain a moisture content of 20-25%

4 Measuring and mixing

Predetermined amount of shredded material, cement and water were measured as per experimental design Manual mixing of predetermined amount of air dry excelsior, cement and water were done on a plastic basin

5 Forming and pressing

The mixture were evenly distributed into a mold to form a concrete masonry unit with a thickness of 100 mm by 200 mm x 400 mm for 24 hrs This will be followed by 28 day conditioning

Experimental Design

Constant Factors:

CMU size : 100mm x 200mm x 400mm

Water : 80% based on cement weight

Calcium chloride : 3% based on cement weight

Curing Condition : Ambient room temperature/water spraying for cured

samples Variable factors : Volumetric Ratio

Cement : Sand : fronds = 1 : 3 : 4

Compressive strength testing

The compressive strength of the samples was tested using Universal Testing Machine

IV Results and Discussion:

Table 1 Compressive strength of uncured and cured PFCBB and commercial HCMU

DURATION

(d y )

(MPa)

Cure

(MPa)

(MPa)

Cure

(MPa)

The greatest compressive strength of the uncured and cured PFCBB was achieved in 28 days and the least was in 7 days

Similarly, the greatest compressive strength of the uncured and cured commercial HCMU was recorded in 28 days and the least was in 7 days

Table 2

compressive strength of the cured and uncured PFCBB and the cured HCMU

and PFCBB

Since all computed value of “t” were less than the tabular value of “t” at 5% level of significance, this implies that there is no significant difference between their compressive strengths

V Conclusion :

Based on the results of the study the following conclusions were drawn:

PFCBB B

7

HCMU U

7

The greatest compressive strength of both cured and uncured PFCBB was achieved in 28 days because the concrete will reach its maximum strength in 28 days However, it did not pass the minimum compressive strength for ASTM standard The palm frond residue has water content which will evaporate when exposed to heat The loss of water in the palm frond masonry unit will cause some voids and weaken the compressive strength of the unit

Based on the findings the following recommendations are made:

1 The PFCBB may be used as partition walls, fences or any non-load bearing structures provided that it will be plastered with cement to avoid deterioration

2 Further investigation in improving the properties of PFCBB is recommended Simple approaches should be considered, such as adjusting the mixture or addition of pebbles to improve its compressive strength

3 It is recommended that the outer harder and shiny part of the palm fronds be used for the fabrication of PFCBB

4 Other factors like water absorption of the PFCBB be conducted to determine its other properties like deterioration and decomposition

6 There should be an advocacy adoption and propagation of the technology

V Literature Cited:

1 Cabangon, R.J., D A Eusebio, R Cunningham, C Donelly and P.D Evans: Eucalypts and Acacias differ in Their Response to the Accelerators Used in the Manufacture of Wood

Wool Cement Board In Proc of the 5th Pacific Tim Bio-based composites symposium, Bogor, Indonesia 437-445:1998

2 F.P Soriano, R Cunningham and P.D Evans Effects of Post Harvest Storage on the

Suitability of A Mangium for the Manufacture of Wood Wool Cement Board Proc of the

5th Pacific Rim Bio-based Composites Symposium, Canberra, Australia 48-56:2000

3 Eusebio, D.A., FP Soriano, R.J Cabangon and P.D Evans Manufacture of Low-cost Wood-Cement composites in the Philippines Using Plantation Grown Australian Species: I Eucalypts Proc of the 5th Pacific Rim Bio-based Composites Symposium, Canberra, Australia 57-64:2000

4 Soriano, F.P D.A Eusebio, R.J Cabangon, P.L Alcachupas and P.D Evans The Effect of Wood:Cement Ratio and Accelerators on the Properties of Wood Wool Made from A Mangium FPRDI Journal 25(1):67-74:1997

5 Soriano, F.P D.A Eusebio, R.J Cabangon, P.L Alcachupas and P.D Evans The Effect of

6 (http://www.eltomation.com/Eng/Publications/Prop%20and%20appl%20WWCB%20leaflet pdf) Retrieved July 8, 2009

7 www.Engg.upd.edu.ph/~side/pdf/MTL-002.pdf.) Retrieved October 112, 2009

Acknowledgement

The researchers wish to express and extend their appreciation and deepest gratitude to all persons who gave their support and valuable assistance and suggestions at the various stages of the study:

The Sultan Kudarat State College (SKSU) through its President Dr Teresita L Cambel, the Research and Extension Division headed by the Vice President for Research and Extension, Dr Rolando F Hechanova and his staff, Department of Public Works and Highways Regional Office ,

Dr Edwin Alido, our Campus Dean, the faculy, staff and students of SKSU-Isulan Campus and to everyone who gave their moral, spiritual and financial support for the completion of this study; And above all to the Almighty God for His blessings and gift of knowledge and wisdom that made this study a successful one

PICTURE OF AUTHORS

ENGR RODOLFO B SOLOMON

Cleaning of Palm Fronds: The cleaned fronds are dried and woven

into plywood size Notice the waste fronds on the ground

These are utilized as potential material for cement-bonded blocks

Fabrication of Palm frond cement-bonded blocks

Testing of compressive strength of PFCBB using

The Universal Testing Machine