IBS concrete block enhancement with additional of rice husk / Sharifah Zulaikha Syed Mohd Amjat and Nurhasyimah Ahmad Zamri

Paddy, a significant plantation in Malaysia’s agricultural industry, has been producing a by-product known as rice husk. Historically, a large portion of the rice husk has been disposed of without proper consideration, resulting in issues related to waste disposal and health. Uncontrolled or open burning in fields causes serious environmental risks that have a negative impact on the area’s air quality. Since it is not used profitably and is typically burned after harvest, rice husk has become a major issue in rice-growing areas and impacted the environment. Therefore, this study promotes the use of concrete block with rice husk as a new construction material to replace the existing blocks in the market. For this purpose, it is important to understand the properties of the material used to make a concrete block. The aim of this study is to investigate the feasibility of using rice husks to produce solid concrete blocks. Hence, a laboratory experiment needs to be conducted to investigate the effect of rice husk on concrete block characteristics, including the investigation of compressive strength and Ultrasonic Pulse Velocity (UPV) tests.