[Readers' Q&A]: What is the difference between OPC and PPC (cements)?

Question posted by one of B-n-M's readers, Muthiah in the comments section of one of our earlier posts [Readers' Q&A]: Difference between types of cement":
titled: "
Hi!
Want to know the difference of OPC and PPC cements
-Muthiah
Team B-n-M answers...

Dear Muthiah,
This is a very common question people ask. As a quick reference, you can also go through the above-mentioned earlier post and its comments section to get the answer in brief.  Further, let us explain again for easy understanding of yours and all our other interested readers...

OPC (Ordinary Portland Cement) is the basic form of cement with 95% of it being the clinker and 5% being gypsum which is added as an additive to enhance the setting time of the cement to a workable 30 minutes odd or so.  This cement is the standard norm being manufactured and sold by cement manufacturers around the world. As the Understanding-Cement website puts it: "In particular, 'Ordinary Portland Cement' is the normal, grey, cement with which most people are familiar".

However, with changing times and with enhanced energy requirements and associated environmental implications that came along with, the thermal (coal based) power plants the world over started producing multitude of coal ash (commonly known as 'Flyash or Fly Ash'), which is a waste product otherwise, in the form of finely divided residue resulting from the combustion of ground or powdered bituminous coal or sub bituminous coal (lignite) and transported by the flue gases of boilers fired by pulverized coal or lignite.

Then, with the bitter fact the world faced about the disposal of fly ash becoming a serious problem in itself, and on the other hand this fly ash being found to have certain useful cementetious properties, the worldwide statutory and academic bodies allowed addition of up to 35% of fly ash in making the type of cement, commonly known as the Pozzolanic Portland Cement (PPC). This way, the waste product which could have become a serious environmental hazard, has now become a sought-after raw material for manufacture of modern day large-scale produced cement known as the Pozzolanic Portland Cement (PPC).

One common question relating to use of OPC / PPC that people usually ask us is:
Is PPC good to use for the construction of my house/ factory/ repair works/ heavy engineering works?
Some people have presumption that since PPC uses a waste product as an ingredient, it makes it less good than the good old OPC. However, on the other hand PPC has certain distinct advantages over OPC, as listed below:
  • Low heat of hydration reducing chances of surface cracks
  • Longer setting time making it more workable than OPC
  • Ultimate strength higher than OPC
  • Lower porosity imparting the concrete more water tightness
  • Lower manufacturing cost compared to OPC
  • Waste utilization making it more environmental friendly
Thus, it can be safely inferred that PPC (Pozzolanic Portland Cement) can be used invariably for all common uses that OPC (Ordinary Portland Cement) can be used including one's construction works, concrete works, repair works, finishing works (plastering, flooring, etc.), and the likes.

SUBSCRIBE to get B-n-M's updates and feeds right there in your INBOX. Enter your email ID here ...


About Unknown

This is a short description in the author block about the author. You edit it by entering text in the "Biographical Info" field in the user admin panel.
    Blogger Comment
    Facebook Comment

9 ||| LEAVE YOUR COMMENT:

  1. I want to thank your team for explaining this terminology in such a simple and straightforward way. I was checking all the search options received in google search, but none provided as nice answer as yours. Thankyou again.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Its our pleasure, NIT, for being of some meaningful use to our readers.

    Thanks for the feedback :-)

    -Shelly (for Team BnM)

    ReplyDelete
  3. Really Appreciable. Thanks BNM Team.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Dear Tarun,
    Hope the info is of good use to you. Do keep in touch in case you need any other similar query to be answered too. You may send in your query by email also, which we reply by email and may also publish here in case we feel the same could be of use to others too. Happy getting your feedback :-)

    ReplyDelete
  5. hats off to the team for such a simplified explanation!

    ReplyDelete
  6. Thanks for the lucid explanation.

    ReplyDelete
  7. i m realy very impressed, thank you so much .:)

    ReplyDelete
  8. Thank you Sonam, Shashi, et al. for liking the content of this blog (especially this post). Hope we continue to be of good help to one and all :-)

    ReplyDelete
  9. I am planing to start construction of my house next month in kerala. It is a two storied house. Please provide more information about cements with grade and type and percentage of sand to be used for Concrete, Bric works, Plastering, bathrooms etc in high rainfall and humid conditions of kerala.

    ReplyDelete

Hi! Thanks for writing-in to us. Hope we were/are able to assist you.

Your suggestions/ comments/ feedback/ contributions help us bettering our blog.

Thanks and regards,
team@bricks-n-mortar.com