The Utilization of Biomass Bottom Ashes in Cement System

By producing 1 ton of Portland cement clinker in environment releasing about 0.85 tons of CO2: 70% of limestone decarbonation and 30% of electricity and thermal consumption. High specific CO2 emissions results take the responsibility of Portland cement industry for about 5% of global CO2 emissions. One of the ways to reduce CO2 emissions is the use of Portland cement substituting materials. Properly treated ashes could become not a waste of biofuel but a valuable raw material for new construction materials. This paper presents results about the characterization of the biomass bottom ash sourced from the combustion of plant biomass located in Lithuania, and the study of new cement formulations incorporated with the biomass bottom ash. The study includes a comparative analysis of the phase formation and the setting of cement with bottom ash composite. Techniques such as X-ray diffraction (XRD), X-ray fluorescence spectroscopy (XRF), measurement of hydration temperature were used to determine the structure and composition of the formulations