ISSN:2455-2631 September 2025 IJSDR | Volume 10 Issue 9 IJSDR2509160 International Journal of Scientific Development and Research (IJSDR) www.ijsdr.org b491 EFFECT OF GROUNDNUT HUSK ASH AND SILICA FUME ON PROPERTIES OF MORTAR Bulama Abubakar 1 , Jamilu Usman 2 , Faraz Hasan Qadri 3 , Mohd Asim 4 , Yusuf hassan 5 , Muhammad zaid sagir 6 1. Student, M.tech CTM, Department of civil engineering, FE&IT, Integral university lucknow 2. professor, Department of Building, Ahmadu Bello university Nigeria 3. Assistant professor, Department of civil engineering, FE&IT, Integral university lucknow 4. Assistant professor, Department of civil engineering, FE&IT, Integral university lucknow 5. Student, Msc concrete technology, Department of Building, Ahmadu Bello university Nigeria 6. Student M.tech CTM , Department of civil engineering, FE&IT, Integral university lucknow Corresponding Author: Abubakar Bulama Department of civil Engineering Integral University,Lucknow, India ABSTRACT Effects of ground nut shell ash and silica fume on properties of cement mortar, central composite method (CCD) was utilized to design the experimental data. Two input factors (GSA 10-20%) and (SF 5-10%) and two responses (consistency and setting time) were considered in the design. A total of 13 experimental runs were generated and tested. The results show that Both Groundnut husk ash and silica fume increase water requirement but GHA increase more than silica fume for consistency, while for setting time result show that Groundnut husk ash and silica fume delayed setting time, however GHA significantly delayed the setting time than silica. KEY WORDS: Groundnut shell, silica fume, properties of mortar, central composite design, experimental data, setting time, consistency. I. INTRODUCTION Cement production is one of the major contributors to carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) emissions. It is responsible for 8% of the global artificial CO 2 emission. More than 4 billion metric tons of cement are produced. China and India are the major cement producers, covering almost two-thirds of cement production worldwide. For the fabrication of every ton of cement, around 900 kg of CO 2 is emitted. The high level of CO 2 emission happens when burning fossil fuels to generate heat to initiate the cement manufacturing process and thermal decomposition of calcium carbonate in the progression of manufacturing cement clinker. During this process, 30–40% is derived from burning fuels and 60–70% result from decarbonation. Although cement production contributes to a significant amount of CO 2 emission, it still remains an inevitable constituent in most of the construction materials such as concrete, cement mortar, etc. Since reducing the embodied energy and CO 2 emission trading are of enormous importance to control global warming in the future, the construction industry faces growing pressure to find alternative supplementary cementitious materials to replace cement in construction. The construction materials already incorporate a broad range of supplementary cementitious materials such as fly ash, silica fume, limestone, metakaolin, granulated blast furnace slag and volcanic pozzolanas. [1] Pozzolans are materials that consist mainly of silica and alumina and are able to combine with Ca(OH) 2 in the presence of water to produce new reaction products that possess strength binding characteristics. Pozzolans are widely acceptable because of the various benefits they offer to concrete or mortar produced when ordinary Portland cements (OPC) is partially replaced with them. They offer beneficial effects like increased compressive strength and flexural strengths, and better durability at later age; some also improve workability, lower heat of hydration and increase