Harnessing Agricultural Residues for Eco-Efficient Cement Substitution in Mortar: A Pathway to Low-Carbon and Sustainable Construction

Rocznik Ochrona Środowiska 2025, vol. 27, pp. 388-401

Mohit Verma¹, Kunwar Raghvendra Singh², Nakul Gupta³ This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it., Abdullah Faiz Al Asmari⁴, Rajesh Goyal³, Parveen Berwal⁵ This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it., Saiful Islam⁴

	1. GLA University, India 2. NITTTR Kolkata, India 3. NICMAR Institute of Construction Management and Research, India 4. King Khalid University, Saudi Arabia 5. Galgotias College of Engineering and Technology, India
	This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
	https://doi.org/10.54740/ros.2025.032

Several studies have explored the use of agricultural waste materials in construction. Using these materials in building not only eliminates them but also prevents environmental contamination. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the impact of rice husk ash (RHA) as a partial replacement of cement. An assessment was conducted to determine the compressive strength, flexural strength, porosity, water absorption, and density of the hardened samples. Furthermore, the microstructures and chemical compositions of several samples were analyzed using SEM and XRD analysis. The replacement levels of rice husk ash were 0%, 5%, 10%, 15%, 20%, 25%, and 30% by weight of cement. From the findings, it was observed that the possible utilization of RHA was up to 20 percent. The water absorption, porosity, and dry density of RHA mixed mortar samples were observed to increase with the percentage addition of RHA. This is due to the greater number of voids in RHA compared to cement. However, it decreases as curing age increases. XRD and SEM analysis matched the macro-property analysis and helped explain the positive effect of RHA. The linear regression between flexural strength and compressive strength was found to be f_cr = 0.1146 f_ck + 1.0882, with an R² value of 0.9602. The statistical analysis using a dendrogram revealed three distinct cluster formations for the different variables.

rice husk ash, cement, compressive strength, flexural strength, water absorption

AMA Style
Verma M, Singh K, Gupta N, Asmari A, Goyal R, Berwal P, Islam S. Harnessing Agricultural Residues for Eco-Efficient Cement Substitution in Mortar: A Pathway to Low-Carbon and Sustainable Construction. Rocznik Ochrona Środowiska. 2025; 27. https://doi.org/10.54740/ros.2025.032

ACM Style
Verma, M., Singh, K., Gupta, N., Asmari, A., Goyal, R., Berwal, P., Islam, S. 2025. Harnessing Agricultural Residues for Eco-Efficient Cement Substitution in Mortar: A Pathway to Low-Carbon and Sustainable Construction. Rocznik Ochrona Środowiska. 27. DOI:https://doi.org/10.54740/ros.2025.032

ACS Style
Verma, M.; Singh, K.; Gupta, N.; Asmari, A.; Goyal, R.; Berwal, P.; Islam, S. Harnessing Agricultural Residues for Eco-Efficient Cement Substitution in Mortar: A Pathway to Low-Carbon and Sustainable Construction Rocznik Ochrona Środowiska 2025, 27, 388-401. https://doi.org/10.54740/ros.2025.032

APA Style
Verma, M., Singh, K., Gupta, N., Asmari, A., Goyal, R., Berwal, P., Islam, S. (2025). Harnessing Agricultural Residues for Eco-Efficient Cement Substitution in Mortar: A Pathway to Low-Carbon and Sustainable Construction. Rocznik Ochrona Środowiska, 27, 388-401. https://doi.org/10.54740/ros.2025.032

ABNT Style
VERMA, M.; SINGH, K.; GUPTA, N.; ASMARI, A.; GOYAL, R.; BERWAL, P.; ISLAM, S. Harnessing Agricultural Residues for Eco-Efficient Cement Substitution in Mortar: A Pathway to Low-Carbon and Sustainable Construction. Rocznik Ochrona Środowiska, v. 27, p. 388-401, 2025. https://doi.org/10.54740/ros.2025.032

Chicago Style
Verma, Mohit, Singh, Kunwar, Gupta, Nakul, Asmari, Abdullah, Goyal, Rajesh, Berwal, Parveen, Islam, Saiful. 2025. "Harnessing Agricultural Residues for Eco-Efficient Cement Substitution in Mortar: A Pathway to Low-Carbon and Sustainable Construction". Rocznik Ochrona Środowiska 27, 388-401. https://doi.org/10.54740/ros.2025.032

Harvard Style
Verma, M., Singh, K., Gupta, N., Asmari, A., Goyal, R., Berwal, P., Islam, S. (2025) "Harnessing Agricultural Residues for Eco-Efficient Cement Substitution in Mortar: A Pathway to Low-Carbon and Sustainable Construction", Rocznik Ochrona Środowiska, 27, pp. 388-401. doi:https://doi.org/10.54740/ros.2025.032

IEEE Style
M. Verma, K. Singh, N. Gupta, A. Asmari, R. Goyal, P. Berwal, S. Islam, "Harnessing Agricultural Residues for Eco-Efficient Cement Substitution in Mortar: A Pathway to Low-Carbon and Sustainable Construction", RoczOchrSrod, vol 27, pp. 388-401. https://doi.org/10.54740/ros.2025.032