Eco-Friendly Concrete Mix Brewing

Including rice husk ash (RHA) in concrete mix in India could be a cheaper and more sustainable method of generating building materials, and alleviate RHA disposal problems.

Two civil engineering students in India have developed a new concrete mixture using rice husk ash (RHA) that appears to be both less expensive and more environmentally friendly than standard materials.

Final year students Manideep Tummalapudi and Surya Veera Vasudeva Rao Relangi at the GITAM University in India found that cement can be partially replaced by RHA in concrete, while still maintaining the product's integrity. Tests have shown that RHA added to concrete at the right ratio would create compressive strength similar to normal concrete.

India produces 110 million tons of rice annually, which generates 22 million tons of rice husks. Disposal of the rice husk has become problematic, making the new, eco-friendly concrete a potential windfall both for the construction and agricultural industries.

The students earned prizes from a national technical symposium in India, and their findings have been accepted for publication in the International Journal for Earth Sciences and Engineering.