Experimental Evaluation of Concrete Blended with Eco-Friendly Bio-Sulfur as a Cement Replacement Material.

Abstract

Bio-sulfur (BS), extracted from landfill bio-gas via microbial methods, was examined herein as a potential cement replacement material. The study developed five modified BS variants through limestone incorporation processes (sulfur-to-limestone ratios of 1:0.5, 1:1, 1:1.5, 1:3, and 1:5). The study revealed that modified BS with higher limestone ratios demonstrates significant workability and strength reductions of over 50% with increased content, leading to the adoption of a sulfur-to-limestone ratio of 1:1. The concrete specimens exhibited compressive strength improvements of up to 12% with increased BS content, while the UPV showed proportional increases with increased BS content that remained independent of the water/binder (W/B) ratio. Statistical analysis confirmed significance with p-values below 0.05. XRD analysis identified initial cement hydrate peaks at 3 d that evolved into distinct Mg-S hydrate and Ca-Al-S hydrate formations in the BS-containing specimens by 28 d.