DLSU Research Congress 2021

De La Salle University, Manila, Philippines

July 7 to 9, 2021

Utilization of Powdered Eggshells and Green Mussel Shells as

Partial Cement Replacement with Seawater in Concrete Hollow Block

Bernardo Lejano1*, Gabrielo Barrinuevo2, Edeouz Esmille2, Christian Pinto2,, and John Romero2
1 Professor, Civil Engineering Department, De La Salle University

2 BSCE Student, Civil Engineering Department, De La Salle University

*Corresponding Author: [email protected]

Abstract: The gradual increase in the use of concrete in construction continues to

exhaust natural resources that calls for sourcing possible substitute sustainable
materials. Many alternative materials are used to produce concrete using by-products
or industrial waste to lessen over-dependence on natural resources. Since the
production of cement leaves a lot of carbon footprints, it would be environment-friendly
if something can replace or even partially replace cement. Another aspect in caring the
environment is looking for solution to the depleting source of freshwater. The viability
of using seawater in the production of concrete hollow blocks (CHB) is one of the facets
investigated in this study. To create sustainable non-load bearing CHB, experimental
investigation had been carried out on the utilization of eggshells and green mussel
shells as partial cement replacement mixed with seawater. The eggshells and green
mussel shells were air dried for 24 hours and then heated in an oven at 100°C in an
oven for 12 hours. It was then milled and passed through a 100μm sieve to simulate
the particle size of cement. There were 6 CHB specimens per mix and 36 mix ratios of
both freshwater and seawater samples. The total number of specimens including 6
samples of control freshwater specimens produced was 222 CHB specimens with a
dimension of 400 mm x 200 mm x 100 mm. Based on the compressive strength test, it
was determined that the 10% partial cement replacement samples, resulted with a
greater average compressive strength of 3.99 MPa for seawater mix than the 20% and
30% cement replacement samples at 3.94 MPa and 3.69 MPa, respectively. It was also
found that the green mussel shell is more effective in increasing the strength of CHB
since when the proportion of green mussel shell to the eggshell is increased, the
compressive strength tends to increase. Furthermore, seawater proved to be more
advantageous than freshwater in all the mix ratios in terms of compressive strength.

Key Words: partial cement replacement; concrete; CHB; mussel shells; eggshells.

1. INTRODUCTION conventional concrete. Incorporating waste materials

as partial cement replacements has been the hot topic
ever since the effects of climate change started taking
Within the past few years, studies in the field
its toll. A waste material that is viable are green
of Civil Engineering focused on finding sustainable
mussel shells (GMS). Green mussel shells are of
alternatives that are viable or even better than
particular interest to civil engineering research due to

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 DLSU Research Congress 2021
De La Salle University, Manila, Philippines
July 7 to 9, 2021

the high Calcium Carbonate (CaCO3) content of it, specimens per batch of CHB mixture was conducted
which is a key component of limestone, a key which turned out to be insignificant, meaning the
ingredient to cement. The Philippines, being an CHB’s quality were consistently produced. The
archipelagic country, thrives in the aquaculture sector cement replacement percentage, type of mixing water,
which results to a high waste generation of these and EGS to GMS ratio were the factors considered for
mussel shells. A study conducted by Lejano and Gagan each CHB mixture, as shown in Table 1.
(2017) utilized powdered green mussel shells and pig-
hair fibers as partial cement replacement for concrete. Table 1. Breakdown of factors considered in
They found the optimal mix ratio for pure green determining the total number of CHB mixtures.
mussel shells is at 10% partial cement replacement
Type of factor being considered No. of factors
wherein there was a 13% increase in strength. In
another study by Lejano, Ang, and Dagdagan, green Cement Replacement Percentage 3
mussel shells and fly ash were used as partial cement Mixing Water 2
replacement for masonry blocks with plastic waste Eggshells/Green Mussel shells 6
aggregates. Their study shows that the optimal mix Total Mixture Cases 36
was still 10% and there was a 9.5% increase in
strength. 2.2 Experimental Setup
Another waste material that has been
incorporated in cement are eggshells (EGS). Just like
The non-load bearing CHB used in this
GMS, eggshells have a good amount of CaCO3. A study
research has dimension of 400 mm by 200 mm by 100
by Lejano, Barron, Saludo, Tugade, and Yokohama
mm based on what is usually sold in the market. The
(2020) found out that eggshell becomes more affective
samples were planned to be cured for at least 28 days
as partial cement replacement when heated in an oven
but were eventually cured for 107 days because of the
at 100OC for 12 hours. The amount of eggshell used
lockdown brought about by the Covid-19 pandemics.
was at 5% partial cement replacement which was the
For compression testing, the Universal Testing
optimum based on the work of Yerramala (2014).
Machine (UTM) was used. The said testing was done
In this study, GMS and EGS are utilized as a
following the ASTM C140 (Standard Test Method for
partial cement replacement for non-load bearing
Sampling and Testing Concrete Masonry Units and
concrete hollow blocks (CHB). CHBs is a popular
Related Units) was applied.
building material in the Philippines because it readily
available, inexpensive, and suitable for a lot of
construction projects. To possibly produce a more 2.3 Preparation of Materials
sustainable non-load bearing CHB, the effects of GMS
and eggshells on the compressive strength of CHB Same processing was done for the eggshells
were analyzed through various methods of statistics and green mussel shells. The said materials were
such as two-tailed paired t-test and multivariate collected from different bakeries and restaurants.
analysis. The production cost and cost efficiency of the They were rinsed with water to remove all the
CHBs produced were also investigated. unnecessary substances and was air dried for 24
hours. Then they were manually crushed and then
2. METHODOLOGY placed in an oven set at 100OC for 12 hours. After
oven-drying, they were grinded until they passed
through a 100-micrometer sieve.
2.1 Research Design
2.4 Mix Design
This study is experimental in nature. CHBs
with GMS and EGS partial cement replacements were The researchers decided to use the CHB
tested to evaluate their effect on the compressive manufacturer’s mixed design to obtain the said mix
strength. Six non-load bearing CHB specimens per design. The researchers planned to make samples of
mixture for the 36 mixes based in Table 1 were concrete hollow block in which every sand, water, and
prepared and tested to ensure the validity of the data. cement was weighed for uniformity. Instead of using
This resulted to a total of 216 samples. To further the volumetric measurement in controlling all the mix
verify the consistency of the samples produced in the designs, the corresponding weight of the materials
experiment a two-sample T-test on the weight of the

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De La Salle University, Manila, Philippines
July 7 to 9, 2021

shown in Table 2 was followed. This ensures the in the same manner, applying constant duration of
quality of the experimental samples made. vibration that was prescribed by the CHB
Each CHB mix has labels, 10-0E100GF as an manufacturer. No overall dimensions differed by more
example. Various mixes were done in the creation of than ⅛ in which is roughly 3.2mm from the
the said CHB wherein the replacement for the cement dimensions specified by the manufacturer. The CHBs
had different replacement percentages varying from were cured by water spraying daily.
10%, 20%, and 30% of the weight of cement per
mixture seen in Table 2. This corresponds to the first 2.5 Compressive Strength Test of Concrete
2 digits in its label. The partial cement replacements
per CHB mixture also have varying ratios of eggshells Hollow Blocks
and green mussel shells: 0:100, 20:80, 40:60, 60:40,
80:20, 100:0. The ratio of a cement replacement in a The methodology used for determining the
CHB mix is seen before “E” and “G” in its label, compressive strength of a concrete hollow block was
wherein “E” stands for eggshells while “G” for green based on ASTM C140 (Standard Test Method for
mussel shells. The type of mixing water used in a CHB Sampling and Testing Concrete Masonry Units and
mix can be determined by looking at the last letter Related Units). The said ASTM standard served as a
found in the CHB label, wherein “F” stands for guide for the proper testing procedure to be followed.
freshwater and “S” for seawater. Shown in Figure 1 is a picture of the actual test of the
CHB specimen. The CHBs were transported from the
Table 2. Site’s CHB design mix proportion by weight. manufacturing plant to the testing site. Proper care
was observed in transporting to prevent damage to the
Cement (kg) Sand (kg) Water (kg) CHBs. The CHBs were tested for their compressive
3 54.86 6.47 strength using a UTM. The dimension of the top
surface area of all samples for each CHB mixture was
The amount of water was planned to be measured before being tested. The minimum strength
constant in the mixed design. But due to the on-site of non-loadbearing concrete hollow blocks should be
mason’s opinion (who was expert in making CHB), the around 500 psi which is roughly 3.45 MPa in
amount of water was varied slightly to mold the CHBs accordance with ASTM C129-99a.
successfully which resulted with a standard deviation
of 0.388 kg. It was noticed that some of the specimens
cannot be molded properly without adding water. Due
to the slight variation of the amount of water leading
to the variation of water-binder ratio, a single variable
linear regression was done to see if its variance has a
significant effect on the compressive strength of the
CHBs. The slight variation of water-binder ratio
turned out to be insignificant. Fig. 1. Testing the compressive strength of Concrete.

2.4 Production of Concrete Hollow Blocks 3. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

The CHBs were produced in a CHB 3.1 Effects of Green Mussel Shells (GMS)
manufacturing plant. To produce the CHBs, manual
mixing was done because the samples to be made were The compressive strength of CHB with pure
of small quantity just enough to produce 6 pieces of powdered GMS cement replacements mixed with
CHB which is the capacity of the CHB making freshwater and seawater in the different cement
machine used. However, each batch of production has replacement percentages can be seen in Table 3. The
different mix proportion. The dry ingredients (sand, specimens with pure GMS cement replacement mixed
cement, eggshells, and green mussel shells) were with seawater in Table 3, the CHB with the 10%
added first and then were dry-mixed. Water was cement replacement of GMS produced the highest
gradually added to the mix. The mixture was then compressive strength. This is consistent with findings
placed into a mold in a machine that is vibrating to of Lejano and Gagan (2017) that the optimum cement
shape and compact the CHB. All CHBs were molded replacement of GMS is at around 10%. The results

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De La Salle University, Manila, Philippines
July 7 to 9, 2021

showed a noticeable trend wherein the compressive By observing the change of value of the
strength of the specimens decreased with an increase strength with respect the cement replacement, an up
in replacement percentage after 10%. The majority of and down trend can be seen. However, the statistical
the CHB sample that was mixed with seawater analysis resulting to a model generated from all the
resulted with greater strength than those that were experimental compressive strength in Section 3.4 will
mixed with freshwater. It was evident that there was show an inverse relationship between the compressive
an interaction between seawater and high calcium- strength and cement replacement percentage for pure
carbonate materials that resulted in higher eggshells. The results of the experiment suggest that
compressive strength. It showed similar findings as findings from the previous studies by Yerramala
compared with the study of Wang, et al. (2020) that (2014) that 5% cement replacement may be the
using seawater as mixing water yields higher optimum ratio.
compressive strength than using conventional fresh
water on concrete mixtures.
3.3 Effects of Combined EGS and GMS
Table 3. Average compressive strength of CHBs with
100% powdered green mussel shells as cement The compressive strength of CHBs with
replacement. combined powdered GMS and EGS in varying ratios
and cement replacement percentages mixed with
Fresh Water Seawater freshwater and seawater can be seen in Figure 2 and
Cement Comp. Strength Comp. Strength Figure 3, respectively. In the figures, it is seen that
Rep. (%) (MPa) (Mpa) the mixture10-20E80GF for freshwater samples and
10 3.24 3.99 mixture 10-80E20GS for seawater samples yielded the
20 3.14 3.94 highest compressive strength of 4.17 MPa and 3.97
30 3.61 3.69 MPa, respectively. Both are at 10% cement
replacement. It is also observed in figures 2 and 3 that
For the freshwater samples with pure GMS the specimens mixed with seawater showed
partial cement replacement, show the same trend significantly higher peak compressive strengths when
with the seawater samples except at 30% partial compared to specimens mixed with freshwater. There
cement replacement wherein it suddenly increased. were no obvious or distinct significant trends to be
Although, this may indicate that the strength maybe seen, hence a statistical analysis is done in the next
increased at 30% cement replacement, it will be section (Section3.4) to establish the trend.
presented later in Section 3.4 that this is just a
statistical aberration.

3.2 Effects of Powdered Eggshells (EGS)

The compressive strength of CHBs with pure

EGS cement replacements mixed with freshwater and
seawater in the different cement replacement Fig. 2. Compressive strength plot of CHBs with GMS
percentages can be seen in Table 4. From all the CHB and EGS cement replacements mixed w/ fresh water.
mixed with freshwater, the 10% cement replacement
sample had the highest attained compressive strength
among all specimens with pure EGS.

Table 4. Average compressive strength of

experimental CHB with 100% powdered eggshells as
cement replacement.
Fresh Water Seawater Fig. 3. Compressive strength plot of CHBs with GMS
Cement Comp Strength Comp Strength and EGS cement replacements mixed with seawater.
Rep. (%) (Mpa) (Mpa)
10 3.55 3.42 Distinct trends were more apparent when
20 2.64 2.86 the results from combined EGS and GMS were
30 3.36 3.52 presented in compiled and summarized forms. Table

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De La Salle University, Manila, Philippines
July 7 to 9, 2021

5 shows the summary of the mean compressive cement replacements (i.e., EGS to GMS ratio) has less
strength of CHBs according to the partial influence on the compressive strength of CHB. The
replacement used. “EGS^” refers to the mean type of water and the percentage of cement
compressive strength of CHBs with a higher EGS replacement have stronger influence on the
ratio than GMS and vice versa for “GMS^”. Based on compressive strength. The code used for the Y variable
Table 5, it is apparent that the green mussel shell are 0 for freshwater and 1 for seawater. The Figures 4
had greater influence with higher mix ratios on the and 5 shows the graph of the predicted compressive
compressive strength of the CHBs as compared when strength of CHBs mixed with freshwater and
using higher EGS ratio in combined cement seawater respectively using Eq 1. The X-axis in figure
replacement mixtures. Additionally, the pairing of 4 and 5 corresponds to the ratio of powdered eggshells
the green mussel shells and seawater resulted in a and green mussel shells and cement replacement
higher strength gain. Looking into the percent percentage of CHB mix while the Y-axis corresponds
difference between the freshwater and seawater, a to its predicted compressive strength. It can be noticed
positive value for the percent difference means that that the generated predictor model produces an
seawater indeed increases the compressive strength. inversely proportional trend between the compressive
An average of 6.44% increase in compressive strength and the cement replacement percentage of
strength was evident from all the samples when the CHBs.
comparing the seawater and freshwater mixtures.

Table 5. Summary of the Mean Compressive Strength

Based on Partial Cement Replacement Type
Partial Fresh Water Seawater Percent
Cement Rep. (MPa) (MPa) Diff.
PURE EGS 3.18 3.38 6.39
*EGS^ 3.17 3.40 7.35
PURE GMS 3.33 3.88 16.39 Fig. 4. Graph of the Predicted Compressive Strength
*GMS^ 3.51 3.70 5.62 of the Specimens mixed with Freshwater.

3.4 Predictor Model Equation

A multilinear regression analysis considering

3 independent variables was conducted using a
software, MedCalc. This resulted to the predictor
model equation for the compressive strength of the
CHB (fcm) shown in Eq. 1. Fig. 5. Graph of the Predicted Compressive Strength
of the Specimens mixed with Seawater.
fcm = -0.0042 X +0.2682 Y -0.8855 Z +3.6883 (Eq. 1)
3.4 Cost Analysis
where:
X = Ratio of Powdered Eggshells (%) The cost analysis was done using the mixture
Y = Type of mixing water without cement replacement as benchmark. The cost
Z = Percentage of Cement Replacement (%) of each mixture with cement partially replaced with
GMS and EGS was calculated. The unit cost of GMS
The overall P-value of the model is 0.0022 and EGS were found to be lower than cement making
while X coefficient had 0.0061, Y coefficient had it cheaper when more GMS and/or EGS were used.
0.0096, and Z coefficient had a P-value of 0.1657. The Cheaper CHB was also produced when seawater was
constant value of percentages cement replacements used. The cost efficiency of each mixture was
for a set of varying ratios of cement replacement could calculated by dividing the cost with its corresponding
be the for the P-value of Z coefficient. Based on the experimentally obtained strength. Lower value would
constants of the equation, it turned out that mean more cost efficient CHB. The calculated cost
statistically, the ratio of powdered eggshell in the efficiencies for CHB with fresh water and for CHB
with seawater are shown in Figure 6 and Figure 7,
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De La Salle University, Manila, Philippines
July 7 to 9, 2021

respectively. For CHB mixed with seawater, the most Engineering Department of De La Salle University
cost-efficient is 10-0E100GS, which has a cost for their constructive feedback on the study, as well
efficiency of P2.64/MPa. Overall, the most cost- as to the university administration. The researchers
efficient CHB was the 10-20E80GF at 2.53 Php/MPa. would also like to express their gratitude to their
families who provided them with moral support and
financial assistance.

6. REFERENCES (use APA style for citations)

ASTM Standard C129-99a, 2000 (2017),. “Standard
Fig. 6. Cost-efficiency of CHB mixed with mixed with Specification for Nonloadbearing Concrete
fresh water. Masonry Units,” ASTM International, West
Conshohocken, PA, 2017, DOI:.10.1520/C0129-
17, www.astm.org.

Lejano, B., Ang, R. and Dagdagan, V. (2019). Partial

Cement Replacement with Fly Ash and
Powdered Green Mussel Shells for Masonry
Fig. 7. Cost-efficiency of CHB mixed with mixed with Blocks with Plastic Waste Aggregates”,
seawater. Proceedings of DLSU Research Congress 2019,
June 19-21, 2018, DLSU, Manila.
4. CONCLUSIONS
Lejano, B, Barron R., Saludo, P., Tugade, J. and
The study shows a significant increase in Yokohama K. (2020). Compressive Strength of
compressive strength at certain amounts of high Concrete with Seawater and Powdered Eggshells
calcium carbonate material, especially GMS, as a
as Partial Replacement for Cement”,
partial cement replacement when mixed with
seawater than with freshwater. The specimens with International Journal of GEOMATE, May 2020,
10 percent cement replacement yielded the highest Vol. 18, Issue 69, pp. 52-58.
compressive strength in both freshwater and
seawater CHB mixtures. The results from combining Lejano, B. & Gagan, J. Optimization of Compressive
powdered EGS and GMS showed findings that using Strength of Concrete with Pig-Hair Fibers as
higher GMS ratio replacements produced a notable Fiber Reinforcement and Green Mussel Shells as
increase on the compressive strength for both types
Partial Cement Substitute, International
of mixing water. Using pure powdered GMS as
partial cement replacement mixed with seawater Journal of GEOMATE, March 2017, Vol. 12,
yielded the highest compressive strength among the Issue 31, pp. 37-44. ISSN:2186-2990
CHBs with partial cement replacements. The ideal
mix ratio with combined cement replacements for Wang, J., Xie, J., Wang, Y., Liu, Y. and Ding,
CHBs mixed with freshwater is 10-20E80GF while Y.(2020). Rheological properties, compressive
10-0E100GS for CHBs mixed with seawater.
strength, hydration products and microstructure
Based on the cost analysis, the production
cost of the samples with partial cement replacement of seawater-mixed cement pastes. Cement and
was expectedly cheaper than the control samples. On Concrete Composites, 114. doi:
the cost efficiency of the experimental samples, the 10.1016/j.cemconcomp.2020.103770.
seawater samples have a better cost-efficiency ratio.
Yerramala A. (2014) Properties of Concrete with
5. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Eggshell Powder as Cement Replacement. The
Indian Concrete Journal, Vol. 88, No.10, pp. 94-
The authors would like to thank the Civil 102.