Bagasse used in fiber cement

BAGASSE USED IN FIBER

CEMENT

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Through a system created by the Brazilian researcher Ronaldo Soares Teixeira, the residual sugarcane bagasse from the industries can be reused for the manufacture of fiber cement.

The product, called Fiber cement, is generally composed of water, cellulosic pulp, synthetic fiber as some categories of plastic and cement. However, it is possible to replace some of these components by the fiber from the sugarcane bagasse and by the ash resulting from the burning of this material.

Ronaldo, who is from the School of Engineering of São Carlos (EESC), wanted to find a way to use this waste normally discarded by the industry and use it to manufacture products such as roof tiles, partitions, water tanks, among others.

He estimates that of each ton of sugarcane processed, 260 kilos are transformed into bagasse.

In the study, the researcher used the fiber from sugarcane bagasse as a reinforcement in the production of fiber cement itself, and 30% of the mass cement was replaced by ash. Ash has a high concentration of silica,

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with behavior of pozzolanic cement. Ash, in contact with water and together with hydrated lime, forms a binding compound, that is, it hardens.

The product made with this raw material has resistance similar to that produced in industries. For this, the material underwent two curing processes (hardening) and to check its resistance, tests were carried out that simulated the exposure of the material under sunny and rainy conditions.

The method used to create the fiber cement was extrusion, unprecedented in Brazil for this purpose. When the mixture of fiber cement components is placed in the extruder, the endless screw makes the mass flow under increasing pressure through the chambers, forcing it to come out in the desired shape, forming the fiber cement.

The extruder is commonly used in the ceramic industry.

The fiber cement feature is the same as in the previous chapter. Trace of 1:2:3 (1 part cement, 2 parts sand and 3 parts gravel), place 10 kilos of ash, half sack of cement and instead of 1 reel of sand and I would add ¼ of sand to the

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reel, and then put 2 reel of gravel.