Effects of Na2CO3/Na2SiO3 ratio and curing temperature on the structure formation of alkali-activated high-carbon biomass fly ash pastes

Abstract

This study explored unprocessed high-carbon biomass fly ash (BFA) in alkali-activated materials (AAM) with less alkaline Na2CO3 as the activator. In this paper, the effects of the Na2CO3/Na2SiO3 (C/S) ratio and curing temperature (40 °C and 20 °C) on the setting time, structure formation, product synthesis, and physical-mechanical properties of alkali-activated BFA pastes were systematically investigated. Regardless of curing temperature, increasing the C/S ratio increased the density and compressive strength of the sample while a decrease in water absorption. The higher the curing temperature, the faster the structure evolution during the BFA-based alkaline activation synthesis process and the higher the sample’s compressive strength. According to XRD and TG/DTA analyses, the synthesis of gaylussite and C-S-H were observed in the sample with an increasing C/S ratio. The formation of the mentioned minerals contributes to the compressive strength growth of alkali-activated BFA pastes with higher C/S ratios. The findings of this study contribute to the applicability of difficult-to-recycle waste materials such as BFA and the development of sustainable BFA-based AAM.