A preliminary assessment on reusage of flyash emitted from fluidized bed incineration of sludge cake

Reusage or recycle of flyash can eliminate the cost of final disposal and prevent secondary pollution caused by inappropriate flyash disposal. It is well known that the flyash emitted from fluidized bed incineration (FBI) is fine particle. Moreover its properties are more similar to concrete than that of ash from other incinerators. A promising and economical reusage of flyash is in concrete material. Prior to this application, it is necessary to explore the characteristics of cement mixed with flyash. Besides analyzing the general physical and chemical properties of FBI flyash, this article presents a preliminary assessment on reusage of FBI flyash in concrete by a series of experimental tests on the characteristics of flyash-cement paste, including the macrocharacteristics of fresh cement paste e.g. workability, bleeding water, setting time, compressive and tensile strengths, and micro-characteristics, e.g. paste hardening, pore distribution, and crystal structure. Effects of flyash amount in the paste and of flyash size on these properties are also studied. An approach to evaluate the reusage of flyash by inspecting the characteristics of flyash-cement paste is proposed, and leads to a potential reusage scheme for the FBI flyash as a concrete material resource.