National Concrete Pavement Technology Center

Project description

This research will investigate potential uses of sugarcane bagasse ash to reduce the cost and carbon footprint of concrete materials for road pavement construction and maintenance. Bagasse is the fibrous by-product of sugarcane stalks after they are crushed to extract their juice. Fortunately, bagasse ash has also been found to be a suitable supplementary cementitious material (SCM) due to its pozzolanic behavior. Hence, it can be used as an alternative to reduce cement consumption, similar to the current use of fly ash. Pozzolanic additives such as bagasse ash present several benefits, such as lower costs, lower environmental impacts, higher long-term compressive strength at the expense of a small reduction of the 28-day compressive strength, and improved durability. This study's goal is to develop new uses for bagasse ash as an SCM for concrete. In particular, the use of bagasse ash as a partial substitute for cement and fly ash will be investigated. An efficient production method to maximize the pozzolanic activity of bagasse ash will be developed, and the optimal amounts of bagasse ash to obtain desired concrete properties will be identified. The economic feasibility of bagasse ash used as an SCM will be explored through a preliminary life-cycle cost analysis.