BIOMASS AND COAL FLY ASH AS CEMENT REPLACEMENT ON MORTAR PROPERTIES

Nowadays, construction sector tries to implement several options to minimize issues related to concrete sustainability. The main goal of this work was to study the effect of biomass fly ash, blended with coal fly ashes or alone, as cement replacement in mortars properties. Three replacement percentages were tested (20, 40 and 60 % wt). Fresh and hardened properties (mechanical strength along time of curing) were evaluated. Mortars withbio mass fly ashes have shown lower work ability than the reference one. Mortars with 20% of cement substitution presents better results for all curing times. However, in the three percentages of substitution, and for all curing periods, the best results were found for mortars composed with biomass fly ashes. This work showed that is possible to use biomass fly ashes as partial cement substituent with good results in terms of durability and quality of concrete. Its utilization at an industrial level of concrete production can decrease the energy and raw materials consumption related to cement production and allows a more sustainable option on the ash management.