Impact of Curing Temperature on the Life Cycle Assessment of Sugarcane Bagasse Ash as a Partial Replacement of Cement in Mortars

Abstract

Sugarcane bagasse ash (SCBA), a biomass waste resulting from sugarcane bagasse burning for electricity production, has shown to be a viable alternative option as a partial cement replacement due to its chemical composition and physical properties. Besides, previous research indicates that higher curing temperature may improve the mechanical properties of mixes containing SCBA as cement replacement. However, the environmental assessment of those mixes is lacking in the literature. This study aims to understand how curing temperature impacts the Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) of SCBA as a partial replacement of cement in mortars. An LCA was performed from the extraction of the raw materials to the material production part of the life cycle, including transport. This study shows that the reduction of environmental impact when using SCBA highly depends on the curing temperature. When mortars were cured at 45 °C, the use of SCBA reduced the environmental impact of mortars two times with respect to the reduction at 21 °C (31% reduction when cured at 45 °C vs. 14% at 21 °C, with a 20% replacement). This difference is mainly related to the fact that the higher the curing temperature, the better SCBA mortars perform in terms of strength, thus, net savings of cement required to achieve a given performance are higher. Results indicate that the sustainability of SCBA utilization as a partial replacement of cement will be better when mortar is poured in hot regions or during days with higher ambient temperatures. Likewise, the advantages of using SCBA in terms of sustainability will decrease if the external temperature is low.

Theoretical Assessment of the Environmental Impact of the Preheating Stage in Thermoplastic Composite Processing: A Step toward Sustainable Manufacturing

“…To model this boundary condition, a control element, as illustrated in Figure 5, is introduced at the upper boundary of the laminate. The formulation of the heat transfer rates entering the element and the rate of energy stored within the element is achieved by following the framework outlined in Equation (8).…”

“…To model this boundary condition, a control element, as illustrated in Figure 5, is introduced at the upper boundary of the laminate. The formulation of the heat transfer rates entering the element and the rate of energy stored within the element is achieved by following the framework outlined in Equation (8). Employing an explicit finite difference formulation to expand Equation ( 8) leads t the derivation of a resulting relationship, as shown in Equation ( 9):…”

“…Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) is a technique to quantitatively evaluate the consumption of all resources and their corresponding emissions in a defined system [6]. It consists of four stages, namely goal and scope, inventory analysis, impact analysis, and interpretation of the results [7][8][9]. Two main techniques are employed for conducting LCAs: processlevel analysis and economic input-output analysis.…”

Investigation of Physical and Mechanical Properties of Cement Mortar Incorporating Waste Cotton Fibres

“…However, the cost and environmental impacts associated with the manufacturing of synthetic fibres are unsustainable and comparatively worse than processing natural fibres such as cotton [5]. The use of waste/recycled material will lead to sustainable development in the construction industry [6,7]. Saleh et al [8] used waste fibres to improve the properties of mortar and recommended the use of waste fibres for various construction applications.…”

Comparative Analysis of Multi-Criteria Decision Making and Life Cycle Assessment Methods for Sustainable Evaluation of Concrete Mixtures

“…Previous research has shown that incorporating various SCMs in cement composites can significantly improve the environmental impact of concrete materials [23][24][25][26][27]. For instance, adding fly ash (FA) can effectively reduce the environmental impact when the replacement percentage is below 40% [23,25].…”