House of Peanuts (Research Article)

Have you ever heard of a house made of peanuts? It sounds so impossible right? Amazingly, a study was done to make this seemingly impossible idea become possible.

One of the many industries that we have right now is the construction industry. Part of this industry is the concrete hollow block making. A concrete hollow block is primarily made up of cement, water and sand. However, sand nowadays seems to be more expensive. In fact, a sack of sand is estimated to cost Php 50.00. To solve this dilemma, a cheaper substitute of sand in concrete hollow block was thought of. This is by using peanut pod ashes which could be obtained after burning the peanut pods.

Why peanut pod ashes? It is because it was found out that peanut pod ashes consists principally of sodium carbonate, potassium carbonate and silica. Based on studies, sand is mostly composed of quartz and quartz is mainly made up of silica which is responsible for the hardening of the concrete mixture. So, if peanut pod ashes contained silica, then it could possibly be a good substitute of sand in making a concrete hollow block.

Five kinds of concrete hollow blocks were made to be able to know if using peanut pod ashes as a partial sand substitute would be feasible. Each hollow block contained cement, water and different ratios of sand to peanut pod ashes. The compressive strengths for each hollow block were then acquired.

Based on the results obtained, the three different concrete hollow block samples had different compressive strengths. The other two concrete hollow block samples which had 25% sand and 75% peanut pod ashes and 0% sand and 100% peanut pod ashes were not formed. It was found out that the concrete hollow block which had 75% sand and 25% peanut pod ashes was the strongest sample having a compressive strength of 785 psi. It was actually stronger than the commercial hollow block.

Peanut pod ashes indeed may be a good substitute of sand in making concrete hollow blocks. It was found out that peanut pod ashes would occupy the spaces that sand cannot due to the sizes of its particles. However, the ratio of peanut pod ashes to sand should be controlled. The silica content of peanut pod ashes may not be that great to hold all the different particles of the mixture together.

With the help of science and technology, it is definitely possible to be seeing houses built from peanut pods.