Strength, durability, and microstructure properties of concrete containing bagasse ash – A review of 15 years of perspectives, progress and future insights

Abstract

This review shows that global sugarcane production reached 0.012 billion metric tons of bagasse ash (BA) in 2018, with Brazil, India, and China as top three producers. This industrial BA has a high loss on ignition (LOI). Hence, further burning at 800 °C for 1 h or at a lower temperature of 600–650 °C for a longer duration of up to 3 h is the most optimum for producing BA with amorphous silica. The average chemical composition of BA used in the reviewed paper is 65% silicon dioxide (SiO2), 9.21% aluminium oxide (Al2O3), 4.64% iron (III) oxide (Fe2O3), and 8.31% LOI. BA exhibits pozzolanic activity and can be used as supplementary cementitious material (SCM). Using 10% BA dosage replacing ordinary Portland cement (OPC) (by mass) increased the long-term (28 days and afterward) compressive, flexural, and tensile strengths. However, higher dosages up to 30% produced lower strength but more than 75% of the OPC control mortar. BA requires more water and superplasticizer (SP) to attain similar workability of OPC control mix due to fibrous flakey particles. Most researchers found that water absorption and permeability decrease as BA dosage increases up to 30% by OPC mass. Concrete containing BA up to 20% replacing OPC enhanced durability against sulfate & sulfuric acid attacks, chloride ion ingress, and alkali-silica reaction (ASR). This review recommends that the sugar industry optimize the burning process and produce, in conjunction with the construction industry, a standard guideline for conformity of BA to enhance its use as SCM. Also, further research should be conducted for utilizing BA as filler and SCM in two-stage concrete (TSC), ultra-high-performance concrete (UHPC), and self-compacting concrete (SCC).