New Eco-Cements Made with Marabou Weed Biomass Ash

Abstract

Biomass ash is currently attracting the attention of science and industry as an inexhaustible eco-friendly alternative to pozzolans traditionally used in commercial cement manufacture (fly ash, silica fume, natural/calcined pozzolan). This paper explores a new line of research into Marabou weed ash (MA), an alternative to better-known conventional agro-industry waste materials (rice husk, bagasse cane, bamboo, forest waste, etc.) produced in Cuba from an invasive plant harvested as biomass for bioenergy production. The study entailed full characterization of MA using a variety of instrumental techniques, analysis of pozzolanic reactivity in the pozzolan/lime system, and, finally its influence on the physical and mechanical properties of binary pastes and mortars containing 10% and 20% MA replacement content. The results indicate that MA has a very low acid oxide content and a high loss on ignition (30%) and K2O content (6.9%), which produces medium–low pozzolanic activity. Despite an observed increase in the blended mortars’ total and capillary water absorption capacity and electrical resistivity and a loss in mechanical strength approximately equivalent to the replacement percentage, the 10% and 20% MA blended cements meet the regulatory chemical, physical, and mechanical requirements specified. Marabou weed ash is therefore a viable future supplementary cementitious material.