Investigating the effectiveness of the use of water hyacinth powder as a superplasticizer in concrete.

Abstract

This report is a record of the final year project for civil engineering which was done to investigate the effectiveness of using water hyacinth powder as superplasticizer in concrete. The project was done at Makerere university by Amutuhaire Elvis and Etwou Japheth being supervised and guided by two supervisors. The Main supervisor was Mr. Anthony Rucukye and the Co. supervisor was Mr. Felixson Ngyero. Chemical and mineral admixtures, which are often employed in the production of s concrete, are both expensive and polluting. The effectiveness of utilizing water hyacinth powder as a potential superplasticizer instead of the ones on the current market such as Auramix 400 chemical superplasticizer was investigated in this study. For this, both water hyacinth powder and ash were used. The amounts of lingo cellulose, saturated and unsaturated fatty acids, and ligno sulphates shown by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry indicate that this combination is not only a retarder but also a water reducing agent. The properties of the concrete were investigated after adding water hyacinth powder and ash at 0%, 10%, and 15%, as the composition of the water hyacinth powder. The slump flow test of 5% composition showed workability within minimum slump of 25mm for mass concrete as recommended by the American Concrete Institute (ACI 211.1) indicating that the water hyacinth powder can be used.