Author(s)

Nafissatou Savadogo¹, Yasmine Binta Traore¹, Nathael Lankoande¹, Philbert Nshimiyimana², Adamah Messan²

¹Département de Génie Civil, Ecole Supérieure d’Ingénierie de Fada (ESI-F), Université de Fada N’Gourma (UFDG), Fada N’Gourma, Burkina Faso.
²Laboratoire Eco-Matériaux et Habitats Durables (LEMHaD), Institut International d’Ingénierie de l’Eau et de l’Environnement (Institut 2iE), Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso.

Despite its low resistance to humidity, adobe remains the most widely used material for housing construction, particularly in developing countries. The present study aims to assess different modes of use of fermented RH and to evaluate their influence on the behavior of raw earth for application in plaster. The influences of two types of RH are evaluated: granular rice husk (RHg) and powdered RH (RHp). The clay mainly consists of clay (40%), silt (22%), and sand (38.4%), with a small proportion of gravel (0.24%). Its liquidity limit is 40% and the plasticity index is 26.5%. The mixtures were designed using earth and each of the two rice husks at the volumetric content of 10%, 15% and 20% of the total volume mixed with water 36.5%, 38.5% and 40.3% and fermented for three weeks. Each fermented mixture was added to the soil to form the paste, and 40 × 40 × 160 mm³ test speciments were made for characterization. The results generally show an improvement in the physico-mechanical properties and water resistance of the mortars containing fermented RH, with an optimal content between 10% and 15%. The powdered RH improved the performance of the mortar better than granular RH.

Earth Plaster, Rice Husk, Clay, Fermentation, Adobe

Savadogo, N. , Traore, Y. , Lankoande, N. , Nshimiyimana, P. and Messan, A. (2024) Investigation of the Fermentation Mode of Rice Husk for the Stabilization of Earth Plaster. Journal of Minerals and Materials Characterization and Engineering, 12, 17-36. doi: 10.4236/jmmce.2024.121002.