Reporting the performance of the rice straw ash as cement replacement material

Rice straw ash was prepared by burning washed straw 90 minutes at 500 degrees C. Its major inorganic constituent was 72% silica and low potassium content of 1.2%. XRD has shown that the main crystalline constituent was calcite and in minor quantities sylvine and quartz. It showed high tendency to react with lime and a strength reactivity index was 82%. In accordance with the literature, the highest compressive strength of the mortars made of cement/ash binder was in the samples in which 10% of ash was replacing cement. The water demand and the setting time of the cement pastes was increasing with the ash addition; the flowability, porosity and water absorption of the respective mortars was decreasing. The low content of carbon have little effect on the behaviour and strength of cement with ash mortars, even without rice straw washing.