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Location
Lexington, Kentucky
Start Date
5-5-2026 1:00 PM
End Date
5-5-2026 1:30 PM
Description
Reducing embodied carbon in concrete has increasingly focused on clinker substitution through the use of supplementary cementitious materials (SCMs). However, the local availability of fly ash, a widely used SCM in the UK, offering benefits in this role, has reduced over the past decade, as coal-fired electricity generating plants have gradually been taken out of service. Attention has, therefore, increasingly focused on fly ash from stockpile and landfill sites to maintain supply, i.e., material not used following production and put into storage. Most UK fly ash originated from the burning of bituminous coal, producing low-lime siliceous material, which although undergoing changes during storage, e.g., surface product formation and agglomeration, has potential for recovery and use. Estimates suggest that more than 100 Mt of this fly ash is available from these storage sites. Methods of processing, including drying, de-agglomeration and carbon removal, enable handling of recovered fly ash and the achievement of properties meeting European standard (EN 450-1) requirements. This paper will describe research currently in progress that is examining the wider performance of this fly ash in concrete. Materials were recovered from a selection of storage sites, processed as described above, and then characterized. Concrete mixes were developed, covering a range of practical strengths, and their fresh and mechanical properties, and aspects of durability, including chloride ingress and carbonation, investigated. Initial results will be reported, which suggest that recovered fly ash in concrete generally follows established behaviour and performs comparably to those with dry fly ash. The paper will consider the practical implications of the results towards the adoption of stockpile fly ash in practice.
Document Type
Presentation
Archival?
Archival
Included in
Energy Systems Commons, Environmental Indicators and Impact Assessment Commons, Environmental Monitoring Commons, Mining Engineering Commons, Oil, Gas, and Energy Commons, Structural Materials Commons, Sustainability Commons
Investigating the Performance of Processed Stockpile Fly Ash for Low Carbon Concrete
Lexington, Kentucky
Reducing embodied carbon in concrete has increasingly focused on clinker substitution through the use of supplementary cementitious materials (SCMs). However, the local availability of fly ash, a widely used SCM in the UK, offering benefits in this role, has reduced over the past decade, as coal-fired electricity generating plants have gradually been taken out of service. Attention has, therefore, increasingly focused on fly ash from stockpile and landfill sites to maintain supply, i.e., material not used following production and put into storage. Most UK fly ash originated from the burning of bituminous coal, producing low-lime siliceous material, which although undergoing changes during storage, e.g., surface product formation and agglomeration, has potential for recovery and use. Estimates suggest that more than 100 Mt of this fly ash is available from these storage sites. Methods of processing, including drying, de-agglomeration and carbon removal, enable handling of recovered fly ash and the achievement of properties meeting European standard (EN 450-1) requirements. This paper will describe research currently in progress that is examining the wider performance of this fly ash in concrete. Materials were recovered from a selection of storage sites, processed as described above, and then characterized. Concrete mixes were developed, covering a range of practical strengths, and their fresh and mechanical properties, and aspects of durability, including chloride ingress and carbonation, investigated. Initial results will be reported, which suggest that recovered fly ash in concrete generally follows established behaviour and performs comparably to those with dry fly ash. The paper will consider the practical implications of the results towards the adoption of stockpile fly ash in practice.
