Performance of Date Palm Ash as a Cementitious Material by Evaluating Strength, Durability, and Characterization

Cement manufacturing is indeed a major contributor to global warming that involves energy-intensive production processes along with emitting huge greenhouse gasses into the atmosphere. To adopt sustainable construction practices, agro-industrial waste materials as supplementary cementitious materials (SCMs) have been used by numerous researchers to partially replace conventional ordinary Portland cement (OPC) with SCMs by evaluating its optimum replacement dosage. This study aims to: (1) highlight the background of the date palm tree and the application of date palm waste as a construction material; (2) optimizing the dosage of date palm ash (DPA) as a cementitious material, at the replacement level of 10%, 20%, and 30%; and (3) understand the reaction kinetics by way of characterization techniques. DPA-based binary mixes were compared with each other and with the control (100% OPC mix) through fresh, mechanical, durability, and microstructural properties. The mechanism of reaction at early- and long-term period of curing was studied by characterization tests on paste, including nitrogen adsorption test (BET), X-ray diffraction (XRD), thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR). The outcome revealed 10% DPA as a strong and durable substitute to OPC, by formation of more Calcium Silicate Hydrate (C-S-H) and Calcium Aluminosilicate Hydrate (C-A-S-H) gel, whereas up to 30% DPA replacement can further maximize clinker replacement with reasonable performance, together with enhanced sustainability and reduced construction cost.