Availability of sugarcane bagasse ash and potential for use as a supplementary cementitious material in concrete

The consumption of Portland cement is increasing rapidly because of the rapid growth in construction worldwide. Cement production consumes lot of raw materials from limited natural resources and also leads to significant amount of carbon dioxide emission to the atmosphere, which causes severe environmental problems. Solid wastes from various by-products are used as supplementary cementitious materials to achieve durable concrete. Sugarcane bagasse ash is collected as a by-product from cogeneration boilers of sugar industries in enormous quantities in India. Bagasse ash has amorphous silica content and can be used as supplementary cementitious material in concrete instead of being disposed in landfills. Availability of sugarcane bagasse ash in India and its potential for use as a supplementary cementitious material in concrete are discussed in this paper.