Study of the Incorporation of Biomass Bottom Ash as a Filler for Discontinuous Grading Bituminous Mixtures with Bitumen Emulsion

Abstract

Energy consumption, because of population development, is progressively increasing. For this reason, new sources of energy are being developed, such as that produced from the combustion of biomass. However, this type of renewable energy has one main disadvantage, the production of waste. Biomass bottom ash is a residue of this industry that currently has not much use. For this reason, this research evaluates its use as a filler in bituminous mixtures, since this sector also has a significant impact on the environment, as it requires large quantities of raw materials. With this objective, first, the physical and chemical properties of biomass bottom ashes were evaluated, verifying their characteristics for their use as filler. Subsequently, bituminous mixtures were conformed with biomass bottom ash as filler, and their physical and mechanical properties were analyzed through particle loss and Marshall tests. The results of these tests were compared with those obtained with the same type of mixture but with conventional and ophite aggregates. This study confirmed that biomass bottom ash was viable for use as a filler, creating mixtures with a higher percentage of bitumen, better mechanical behavior, and similar physical properties. In short, more sustainable material for roads was obtained with waste currently condemned to landfill.

Contribution to the Research on the Application of Bio-Ash as a Filler in Asphalt Mixtures

“…Asphalt mixtures are quality mixtures with a complex, highly elastic behavior. Many researchers have investigated the potential of bio-ash for usage in asphalt mixtures [8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22].…”

“…Regarding the incorporation of biomass ash as a filler for bituminous mixtures, based on [20], it was determined that biomass ash has acceptable chemical and physical properties for use as a filler. The biomass bottom ash leachate test showed a low concentration in the leachate of heavy metals, as well as carbon and sulfur.…”

“…The studies conducted so far [4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22] have revealed that bio-ash considerably varies as to its composition and properties, depending on the origin of the biomass, biomass handling, and the combustion technology and temperature. The wide range of compositions and properties of bio-ash requires the testing of individual sources with the purpose of determining the possibility of using bio-ash in road construction as a substitute for traditional materials.…”

Fuzzy Logic Tools Application to the Characterization of Stress–Strain Processes in Waste Construction Dam Geopolymers: A New Circular Mining

“…The ashes' chemical composition is suitable for use as an alkaline activator since it has a large percentage of potassium, silicon, calcium, phosphorus, magnesium, aluminum and iron oxides. In addition, the ignition loss is 8.16%, showing a very low percentage of carbon and hydrogen that demonstrates the almost inexistence of unburned organic matter [38].…”

Circular economy in Brazilian construction industry: Current scenario, challenges and opportunities

“…Have been found many strategies regarding reduction of resources and of wastes (first R), between them: modelling and numerical simulations; life cycle assessment (LCA) and cradle-to-cradle analysis; propose of software to manage the life cycle of construction (Cristiano et al, 2021;da Silva et al, 2021;NoParast et al, 2021). The feasibility of reusing resources and waste (second R) in the production of new materials has also been demonstrated in recent studies (Rakhshan et al, 2021;Simón et al, 2021;Suárez-Macías et al, 2021a, 2021bZhang et al, 2021). Finally, the insertion of recycled materials (third R) in the construction production chain is to be initiated and improved (Anwar et al, 2021;Delgado et al, 2021;Goel et al, 2021;Munaro and Tavares, 2021;Yu et al, 2021).…”