Chemical Activation of Bagasse Ash in Cementitious System and its Impact on Strength Development

Abstract

The production of bagasse ash from sugar mills in a great quantity has become one of the environmental problem, but its use in cement mortar that provided a satisfactory solution to problems that associated with waste management. In this study, the effect of industrially produced quicklime on the strength development and pozzolanic reaction rates of Bagasse ash/Cementitious systems was investigated. Strength development of the Quicklime-Bagasse ash-Cement (C-BA-QL) system was monitored and presented here. Moreover, new efficiency factors were calculated for the activated systems in an attempt to seek for the optimum quicklime addition in each case. The addition of quicklime increased both the early and later strengths of the cement-bagasse ash specimens. A 3% addition of quicklime was found to be the optimum dosage for both short and longer curing periods.