Coal Bottom Ash as Supplementary Cementitious Material: Optimizing Reactivity Through Particle Grinding

Adilson Schackow (), José da Silva Andrade Neto, Lismari Hack, Marilena Valadares Folgueras, Ana Paula Kirchheim, Erich David Rodríguez Martinez and Paulo Ricardo de Matos ()
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Adilson Schackow: Department of Civil Engineering, Center for Technological Sciences, Santa Catarina State University (UDESC), Joinville 89219-710, SC, Brazil
José da Silva Andrade Neto: Department of Architecture and Urbanism, Center of Higher Education of Southern Region, Santa Catarina State University (UDESC), Laguna 88790-000, SC, Brazil
Lismari Hack: Department of Civil Engineering, Center for Technological Sciences, Santa Catarina State University (UDESC), Joinville 89219-710, SC, Brazil
Marilena Valadares Folgueras: Department of Civil Engineering, Center for Technological Sciences, Santa Catarina State University (UDESC), Joinville 89219-710, SC, Brazil
Ana Paula Kirchheim: Department of Civil Engineering, Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul (UFRGS), Porto Alegre 90035-190, RS, Brazil
Erich David Rodríguez Martinez: Department of Structures and Civil Construction, Technology Center, Federal University of Santa Maria (UFSM), Santa Maria 97105-900, RS, Brazil
Paulo Ricardo de Matos: Department of Civil Engineering, Center for Technological Sciences, Santa Catarina State University (UDESC), Joinville 89219-710, SC, Brazil

Sustainability, 2025, vol. 17, issue 11, 1-14

Abstract: The shortening tendency of fly ash (FA), together with a reduction in the clinker factor of Portland cement, has driven the search for alternative supplementary cementitious materials (SCMs). Coal bottom ash (CBA) is a byproduct of coal combustion in thermal power plants and has the potential to be used as an SCM. This work assessed the optimization of CBA’s performance as an SCM through particle grinding. Reactivity (R 3 test), rheological, and compressive strength tests were conducted, in addition to a thorough characterization of CBA. The results showed that increasing the grinding time progressively increased the reactivity of CBA (R 3 heat release), matching the reactivity of FA with 10 min of grinding. Compressive strength tests demonstrated that grinding the CBA for 10 min led to an equivalent performance compared to FA, while increasing the grinding time did not result in additional strength gains. Rheological tests showed that CBA incorporation increased the yield stress and viscosity of pastes (associated with finer and more angular CBA particles); about 40–45% more superplasticizer (SP) was required for CBA-containing pastes to reach a target yield stress compared with FA-containing samples. Overall, properly grinding CBA allowed for obtaining an equivalent reactivity and strength performance to FA, but more SP was required to obtain the same workability.

Keywords: coal bottom ash; cement; supplementary cementitious material; rheology (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
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