Study of an Ecological Cement-Based Composite with a Sustainable Raw Material, Sunflower Stalk Ash.

Adrian Alexandru Șerbănoiu,Cătălina Mihaela Grădinaru,Nelu Cristian Cherecheș,Nicanor Cimpoeșu,Dumitru Filipeanu,Bogdan Vasile Șerbănoiu

doi:10.3390/ma14237177

Adrian Alexandru Șerbănoiu, Cătălina Mihaela Grădinaru + Show 4 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.3390/ma14237177

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Journal: Materials	Publication Date: Nov 25, 2021
Citations: 2	License type: CC BY 4.0

Affiliation: Gheorghe Asachi Technical University of Iași

Abstract

The use of plant ash as a sustainable cementitious material in concrete composition is a widely researched subject in the construction domain. A plant studied so far more for its thermal insulation properties, sunflower, was analyzed in this study with regard to its ash effects on the concrete composition. The present research aimed to analyze the effects of a 2.5%, 5%, 7.5%, 10%, 15%, 20%, or 30% volume replacement of cement by sunflower stalk ash (SA), a sustainable cementitious material, on the concrete compressive strength at 28 days and three months, the flexural and splitting tensile strengths, the resistance to repeated freeze–thaw cycles, and the resistance to chemical attack of hydrochloric acid. The elementary chemical composition of the SA and the composites was included also. According to the experimental results, SA decreased the values of the compressive and tensile strength of the concrete, but it improved the concrete behavior under repeated freeze–thaw cycles and under the action of hydrochloric acid. A percent of 10% of SA led to a much more pronounced development of compressive strength over time than conventional concrete (26.6% versus 12%).

Highlights

Sustainability became an important preoccupation of the twenty-first century in all industries, including the building materials industry
The building industry is the third largest CO2-emitting industry worldwide due to the levels recorded by Portland cement production
The pathways for achieving this aim are numerous, varying from the use of more sustainable fuels from wastes for the burning process implied in obtaining Portland cement clinker [2] to identifying other cementitious materials, generically called supplementary cementitious materials (SCMs), with high ecologic and sustainable characteristics [3,4,5]

Summary

Introduction

Sustainability became an important preoccupation of the twenty-first century in all industries, including the building materials industry. 3.0–3.6 Gt of cement is produced, leading to around 3.24 billion tons of CO2 (5% of the total CO2 emissions) [1]. These kinds of numbers have determined perpetual research at the global level for finding solutions to diminish the high negative impact of this industry on the environment. The pathways for achieving this aim are numerous, varying from the use of more sustainable fuels from wastes for the burning process implied in obtaining Portland cement clinker [2] to identifying other cementitious materials, generically called supplementary cementitious materials (SCMs), with high ecologic and sustainable characteristics [3,4,5]. From SCMs category, agro-waste ash, among others, is often used, because its use for developing sustainable construction materials has the potential to achieve environmental, economic, and social sustainability in the long term [6]

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