Abstract:
POFA is an agrowaste ash which is produced from fibers, nut shells, and empty fruit
bunches when burnt at temperatures of about 800-10000C in boiler. The production of POFA
is rising every year, it is disposed for landfills, now become an important environmental
disposal issue. A large area is required for the disposal of these POFA waste materials. The
landfill of POFA is the problem for the palm oil industry when it is not reused for any work.
POFA contains a large amount of silicon dioxide with high pozzolanic reactivity and
has high potential to be used in any engineering work. This research examined POFA
characteristics in geotechnical application and its influence by curing periods on 0, 7 and 28
days.
In this paper, physical and mechanical characteristics of POFA in geotechnical work
will be shown. The chemical composition of POFA prove the existence of SiO2, Al2O3, Fe2O3
and CaO as important substances supporting pozzolan reaction during cured. The result
shows that the characteristic of POFA has similar behaviour with sands. Coefficient of
permeability decreased during curing periods. Besides, cohesion shear strength, angle of
friction, cohesion undrained, and CBR value are improve during curing periods.
