Use of Brown Coal Ash as a Replacement of Cement in Concrete Masonry Bricks
Authors: Law D. W. , Gunasekara C. , Setunge S. 
Published: July 2023

Portland cement production is not regarded as environmentally friendly, because of its associated high carbon emissions, which are responsible for 5% of global emissions. An alternative is to substitute fly ash for Portland cement. Australia has an abundance of brown coal fly ash, as it is the main source of primary energy in the State of Victoria. Currently, the majority of this material is stored in landfills and currently there is no commercial use for it in the cement industry because brown coal fly ash cannot be used as a direct replacement material for Portland cement due to the high sulfur and calcium content and low aluminosilicate content. However, the potential exists to use brown coal fly ash as a geopolymeric material, but there remains a significant amount of research needed to be conducted. One possible application is the production of geopolymer concrete bricks. A research project was undertaken to investigate the use of brown coal fly ash from Latrobe Valley power stations in the manufacture of geopolymer masonry bricks. The research developed a detailed understanding of the fundamental chemistry behind the activation of the brown coal fly ash and the reaction mechanisms involved to enable the development of brown coal fly ash geopolymer concrete bricks. The research identified suitable manufacturing techniques to investigate relationships between compressive strength and processing parameters and to understand the reaction kinetics and microstructural developments. The first phase of the research determined the physical, chemical, and mineralogical properties of the Loy Yang and Yallourn fly ash samples to produce a 100% fly ash-based geopolymer mortar. Optimization of the Loy Yang and Yallourn geopolymer mortars was conducted to identify the chemical properties that were influential in the production of satisfactory geopolymer strength. The Loy Yang mortars were able to produce characteristic compressive strengths acceptable in load-bearing bricks (15 MPa), whereas the Yallourn mortars produced characteristic compressive strengths only acceptable as non-load-bearing bricks (5 MPa). The second phase of the research transposed the optimal geopolymer mortar mix designs into optimal geopolymer concrete mix designs while merging the mix design with the optimal Adbri Masonry (commercial partner) concrete brick mix design. The reference mix designs allowed for optimization of both the Loy Yang and Yallourn geopolymer concrete mix designs, with the Loy Yang mix requiring increased water content because the original mix design was deemed to be too dry. The key factors that influenced the compressive strength of the geopolymer mortars and concrete were identified. The amorphous content was considered a vital aspect during the initial reaction process of the fly ash geopolymers. The amount of unburnt carbon content contained in the fly ash can hinder the reactive process, and ultimately, the compressive strength because unburnt carbon can absorb the activating solution, thus reducing the particle to liquid interaction ratio in conjunction with lowering workability. Also, fly ash with a higher surface area showed lower flowability than fly ash with a smaller surface area. It was identified that higher quantity of fly ash particles <45 microns increased reactivity whereas primarily angular-shaped fly ash suffered from reduced workability. The optimal range of workability lay between the 110–150 mm slump, which corresponded with higher strength displayed for each respective precursor fly ash. Higher quantities of aluminum incorporated into the silicate matrix during the reaction process led to improved compressive strengths, illustrated by the formation of reactive aluminosilicate bonds in the range of 800–1000 cm–1 after geopolymerization, which is evidence of a high degree of reaction. In addition, a more negative fly ash zeta potential of the ash was identified as improving the initial deprotonation and overall reactivity of the geopolymer, whereas a less negative zeta potential of the mortar led to increased agglomeration and improved gel development. Following geopolymerization, increases in the quantity of quartz and decreases in moganite correlated with improved compressive strength of the geopolymers. Overall, Loy Yang geopolymers performed better, primarily due to the higher aluminosilicate content than its Yallourn counterpart. The final step was to transition the optimal geopolymer concrete mix designs to producing commercially acceptable bricks. The results showed that the structural integrity of the specimens was reduced in larger batches, indicating that reactivity was reduced, as was compressive strength. It was identified that there was a relationship between heat transfer, curing regimen and structural integrity in a large-volume geopolymer brick application. Geopolymer bricks were successfully produced from the Loy Yang fly ash, which achieved 15 MPa, suitable for application as a structural brick. Further research is required to understand the relationship between the properties of the fly ash, mixing parameters, curing procedures and the overall process of brown coal geopolymer concrete brick application. In particular, optimizing the production process with regard to reducing the curing temperature to ≤80 °C from the current 120 °C and the use of a one-part solid activator to replace the current liquid activator combination of sodium hydroxide and sodium silicate.