Feasibility Study of Bagasse Ash as a Filling Material

Abstract

India is the second most sugarcane producer in the world and generates 10 million tons of bagasse ash every year. Bagasse ash is generally spread as fertilizer in the field. It is the most frequent method of disposing of bagasse ash. However, it contains heavy metals which may lead to adverse effect on the yielding of the crop. Hence, some scholars recommend not using bagasse ash as fertilizer. Previous studies indicated that bagasse ash has been significantly used as a fine aggregate in concrete. As a fine aggregate bagasse ash also has the potential to be an alternative filling material. However, a comprehensive characterization of bagasse ash as an alternative filling material is significantly lacking. The present study aims at the characterization of bagasse ash as an alternative filling material instead of natural material. A series of direct shear test and permeability test were conducted for this purpose. The effect of water content and dry density on the shear strength parameter and permeability were studied. The test results show that angle of internal friction and apparent cohesion increase up to optimum moisture content and decreased after wards. The permeability of test specimen decreased with an increase in dry density. As a result, bagasse ash is comparable with conventional fill material.