Investigation into the permeability and strength of pervious geopolymer concrete containing coated biomass aggregate material

Waste palm oil products can be recycled in the production of pervious geopolymer concrete (PGC) for long-term sustainable development. PGC is a non-slip porous pavement concrete that allows water to pass through. Biomass aggregate (BA) is produced by burning palm oil biomass and is introduced as a replacement for natural aggregate (NA). BA is mixed with fly ash (FA) and alkaline liquid (AL) and heated in an oven at 80 °C for 24 h to produce coated biomass aggregate (CBA). PGC containing CBA is commonly used as a cement substitute in concrete. This study aims to develop and evaluate the effect of rainfall intensity on the ability of PGC to reduce stormwater runoff. Coating BA with geopolymer paste resulted in improved properties, better Aggregate crushing value (ACV), Aggregate impact value (AIV), water absorption and higher compressive strength compared with BA. Results indicated, a PGC with a FA/CBA ratio of 1:7, CBA of 5–10 mm, NaOH molarity of 10 M, Na₂SiO₃/NaOH ratio of 2.5, and AL/FA ratio of 0.5 when cured in an oven for 24 h at 80 °C, gave the optimum ratio for compressive strength of 13.7 MPa and water permeability of 2.1 cm/s. Both BA and CBA revealed a viable alternative aggregates for producing PGC and that the compressive strength of PGC made with CBA was 51% greater than cement pervious concrete containing NA. The results also showed that the reduction in runoff was due to the permeable concrete and decreased runoff with the increased rainfall intensity.