Archived
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Location
Lexington, Kentucky
Start Date
6-5-2026 2:30 PM
End Date
6-5-2026 3:00 PM
Description
The Cement & Concrete sector account for 8% of the worlds emissions . "hard to abate" sector is the substitution out of highly emissive cement with very low emissive SCMs. (Industry by-products) In the region of South Australia , 100% of SCM's are imported at great cost, no sovereign "Australian Standard" sources are locally available. The focus of this study is on the local Pt.Augusta dam ash, a dam repository that remains since the station closure in 2016. The uniqueness of this study is that , like many unused dam repositories globally, seawater was used to sluice coal ash at the Port Augusta power stations. This study evaluates the potential of Port Augusta Dam Ash (PADA), harvested after decades of storage in a seawater-exposed environment, as a sustainable supplementary cementitious material (SCM) for concrete. The dam ash shows elevated chloride levels, initially limiting its suitability for reinforced concrete. After appropriate treatment to reduce contaminants, PADA was benchmarked against a control mix using 100% General Purpose (Type GP) cement and a mix containing 30% replacement of a typical fine-grade Eastern Australian fly ash (EAFA), commonly used in Australian construction. Laboratory tests assessed chemical composition, fresh properties, and compressive strength. PADA demonstrated comparable chemical characteristics to EAFA, and although it showed slightly delayed setting times and lower early-age strength, it outperformed both the control and EAFA mixes at 28 and 56 days, reaching a compressive strength of 51.9 MPa and 60.1 MPa, respectively. These results confirm the viability of treated PADA as a high-performing SCM and highlight its potential to support circular economy strategies and low-carbon construction practices through effective reuse of industrial by-products and reduction in cement usage.
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
An Australian case - Harvesting and processing salt water sluiced Dam Coal Ash for use in conventional concrete
Lexington, Kentucky
The Cement & Concrete sector account for 8% of the worlds emissions . "hard to abate" sector is the substitution out of highly emissive cement with very low emissive SCMs. (Industry by-products) In the region of South Australia , 100% of SCM's are imported at great cost, no sovereign "Australian Standard" sources are locally available. The focus of this study is on the local Pt.Augusta dam ash, a dam repository that remains since the station closure in 2016. The uniqueness of this study is that , like many unused dam repositories globally, seawater was used to sluice coal ash at the Port Augusta power stations. This study evaluates the potential of Port Augusta Dam Ash (PADA), harvested after decades of storage in a seawater-exposed environment, as a sustainable supplementary cementitious material (SCM) for concrete. The dam ash shows elevated chloride levels, initially limiting its suitability for reinforced concrete. After appropriate treatment to reduce contaminants, PADA was benchmarked against a control mix using 100% General Purpose (Type GP) cement and a mix containing 30% replacement of a typical fine-grade Eastern Australian fly ash (EAFA), commonly used in Australian construction. Laboratory tests assessed chemical composition, fresh properties, and compressive strength. PADA demonstrated comparable chemical characteristics to EAFA, and although it showed slightly delayed setting times and lower early-age strength, it outperformed both the control and EAFA mixes at 28 and 56 days, reaching a compressive strength of 51.9 MPa and 60.1 MPa, respectively. These results confirm the viability of treated PADA as a high-performing SCM and highlight its potential to support circular economy strategies and low-carbon construction practices through effective reuse of industrial by-products and reduction in cement usage.
