Use of native-chicken eggshell powder as a partial replacement for cement in concrete development

Use of native-chicken eggshell powder as a partial replacement

Abstract

This study aimed to determine the suitability of native egg shell powder, prepared in a simple and economic manner, as a partial replacement for cement in concrete production. The variations in properties of concrete when native eggshell powder was used to partially replace cement as binder material was determined and compared with the values obtained when cement only was used as the binder. 16 samples of eggshell powder concrete (EPC) developed with a partial replacement of cement with 5%, 10%, 15% and 20% native eggshell powder were produced while 4 control cubes of plain cement concrete (PCC) were also produced. Sieve analysis were carried out to determine the properties of the materials used, while slump and compressive strength tests were done to determine the early and the hardened properties of the concrete produced. The results show that the concrete slump, which is a measure of workability, decreased from 48mm for plain concrete to 44, 39, 33 and 31mm representing 8.3%, 18.7%, 31.2% and 35.4% reductions in slump values for 5%, 10%, 15% and 20% dosages of native eggshell powder in the mixes respectively. Compressive strength also reduced slightly with increase in dosage of native eggshell powder. Values of compressive strength observed after 28days of curing were 22.94N/mm² for plain concrete, 21.91, 20.71, 17.11 and 12.24N/mm² for 5%, 10%, 15% and 20% native eggshell dosages respectively; accordingly indicating 4.6%, 9.2%, 25.4% and 46.6% strength reductions for 5%, 10%, 15% and 20% cement replacements with native eggshell powder. It was observed that at 5% and 10% eggshell powder content, the reductions in strength were within tolerable values. Hence eggshell powder obtained from the eggshell of locally sourced native domestic chickens in a simple and economic manner were effective when used as a partial replacement for cement in concrete production. However, such replacement of cement with native eggshell powder should not exceed 10%. This is because after the 10% replacement the loss in structural strength was observed as becoming substantial.