Environmental Benefits of Using Activated Sugarcane Bagasse Ash in Cementitious Materials

9 pages•Published: December 11, 2023

Abstract

In this research, a comprehensive environmental-based approach is applied to evaluate the effectiveness of biomass ashes processing methods to produce cementitious materials. Efforts are put in research to obtain new low-carbon cementitious materials by incorporating waste, such as sugarcane bagasse ash (SCBA). Processing methods are commonly used to counteract the drawbacks linked to the nature of ashes and boost their benefits, but the energy needed to do this, can jeopardize their environmental interest and is commonly disregarded by researchers. This research investigates the benefits of processing SCBA by mechanical activation in the production of mortars and its environmental impact. It was found that treated ashes outperforms when substituting fine aggregates, increasing the compressive strength (CoS) of plain mortars by 62%. Despite the higher embodied carbon (EC) per cubic meter, treated SCBA in substitution of fine aggregates result in higher eco-strength efficiency, +32%. This enables the reduction of structural elements’ sections diminishing the material use and the ultimate EC, named in this research as specific embodied carbon, up to 40%.

Keyphrases: Embodied carbon, mineral admixtures, service life, waste

In: Tom Leathem, Wesley Collins and Anthony J. Perrenoud (editors). Proceedings of 59th Annual Associated Schools of Construction International Conference, vol 4, pages 723--731

Links:	https://easychair.org/publications/paper/kL7k
	https://doi.org/10.29007/gs5q