Sustainable concrete containing palm oil fuel ash as a supplementary cementitious material - A review

Palm oil fuel ash (POFA) is a waste material generated in power plants as a result of the combustion of palm oil industry waste for the generation of electricity. They are generally disposed to open fields causing traffic hazards besides potential of health hazards and environmental pollution problems. Due to its abundance and high pozzolanic characteristics, many researchers have evaluated its potential as a construction material. This paper presents an overview of some of the published results on the successful utilization of palm oil fuel ash as a supplementary cementitious material and the properties of such concrete at fresh and hardened stages. Studies indicate that there is a promising future for the use of POFA in normal, high strength and self compacting concrete as it shows high strength, low shrinkage and permeability, high resistance to carbonation, chloride, sulfate and acidic environments. At elevated temperature, the POFA concrete perform better than the ordinary Portland cement (OPC) concrete. The summery and discussions provided in this paper should provide new information and knowledge on the applications of greener and sustainable palm oil fuel ash concrete.