Fly ash from cellulose industry as secondary raw material in autoclaved aerated concrete

Because fly ash from cellulose industries contains considerable amounts of free lime and sulfate, they are potential secondary raw materials for the production of autoclaved aerated concrete. Laboratory experiments were performed by replacing lime and sulfate in conventional autoclaved aerated concrete mixtures by fly ash. Compared to a reference series, samples with even higher compressive strength could be produced with lime-sulfate ash. At higher proportions of fly ash, the formation of calcium silicate hydrate phases is delayed and the presence of unreacted portlandite and newly formed scawtite produce a drop in strength and an increase in shrinkage. Low strength resulted by using Al-bearing ash with a lower amount of free CaO, which makes this type of ash not applicable in practice.