Patent ID: 7892349

Claim:
A method of pre-treating fly ash or another combustible ash to reduce or eliminate the effect the fly ash or the other combustible ash has on air entrainment in an air-entraining cementitious mixture comprising the fly ash or other combustible fly ash and an air-entraining agent, the method comprising: mixing a sacrificial agent with fly ash or another combustible ash to form a pre-treated ash, wherein the sacrificial agent is combined with the fly ash or the other combustible ash in at least an amount necessary to neutralize the detrimental effects of components of the fly ash or the other combustible ash on air entrainment activity in the air-entraining cementitious mixture, the sacrificial agent comprising a material or mixture of materials that, when present in a cementitious mixture without fly ash or another combustible ash in said amount causes less than 2 vol. % additional air content in the cementitious mixture, wherein the sacrificial agent comprises an organic compound, with the proviso that the sacrificial agent does not comprise polyethylene glycol (PEG) or aromatic compounds having carboxylic acid groups, or salts thereof.