Biomass Bottom Ash as Supplementary Cementitious Material: The Effect of Mechanochemical Pre-Treatment and Mineral Carbonation

Lorena Skevi, Vahiddin Alperen Baki, Yanjin Feng, Maria Valderrabano, Xinyuan Ke

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

13 Citations (SciVal)

Abstract

The need to mitigate the CO2 emissions deriving from the cement industry becomes imperative as the climate crisis advances. An effective strategy to achieve this is increasing the replacement level of cement clinkers by waste-derived supplementary cementitious materials (SCMs). In this study, the use of mechanochemically activated biomass ash for high-volume (up to 40%) substitution of cement is investigated. The effect of mineral carbonation treatment on the performance of the mechanochemically treated biomass ash as SCM was also examined. The results showed that the mechanochemically treated biomass ash was the most effective SCM, with the respective samples at 40% cement replacement reaching 63% of the strength at 28 days as compared to samples with 100% Portland cement, while only 17% of the strength was achieved in samples with 40% untreated biomass ash. As suggested by the isothermal calorimetry, XRD, FTIR, and TG analysis, the mechanochemical treatment enhanced the reactivity and the filler effect of the biomass ash, leading to improved mechanical performances of these mortars compared to those containing untreated biomass ash. Mineral carbonation reduced the reactivity of the mechanochemically treated biomass ash but still led to better strength performances in comparison to the untreated biomass ash.
Original languageEnglish
Article number8357
JournalMaterials
Volume15
Issue number23
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 24 Nov 2022

Funding

The authors acknowledge the funding support from Transforming Foundation Industries Network+, funded by EPSRC (UK) as part of the Industrial Strategy Challenge Fund. The authors wish to acknowledge the Transforming Foundation Industries Network+ (EPSRC grant EP/V026402/1) for funding this work.

FundersFunder number
Engineering and Physical Sciences Research CouncilEP/V026402/1

Keywords

  • industrial wastes
  • low-clinker cement
  • mechanochemical activation
  • mineral carbonation

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • General Materials Science
  • Condensed Matter Physics

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