The Technology of Processing of Bed Combustion Fly Ash for Cement Composite Production

Abstract

Insufficient offer of high-temperature fly ash meeting the requirements of standard EN 4501 is becoming an increasingly significant problem for concrete technology. This trend is generally caused by relentless effort to green electricity generation and reduce the carbon footprint, leading to the decommissioning of coal-fired power plants and the greening of existing. The most often ways are combustion processes of fluidized-bed and selective non-catalytic nitrogen oxide reduction (SNCR) processes. Thanks to these processes, the demand for this raw material has significantly exceeded its supply in recent years. It is, therefore, more than current to look for ways to use the large amount of ash produced from coal combustion, which is not high-temperature fly ash, but can be classified as a bed combustion fly ash or cinder. The paper aims to show the possible processing and subsequent use of these waste materials for the production of cement composites. The possibilities of grinding these coarse-grained fly ashes and the subsequent impact of their use on the cement composite in comparison with conventional fly ash according to the standard EN 450 from the same sources were verified. The impact of their use on the properties of composites in the fresh and hardened state was analysed, and these impacts were related to, for example, their chemistry, grain morphology, loss on ignition, or fineness.