Sugarcane Bagasse Ash and its Role During the Hydration of Portland Cement

The utilization of waste materials in concrete manufacture provides a satisfactory solution to some of the environmental concerns and problems associated with waste management. Agro wastes such as rice husk ash, wheat straw ash, hazel nutshell and sugarcane bagasse ash are used as pozzolanic materials for the development of blended cements. India being one of the largest producers of sugarcane in the world, produces 300 million tons per year and large quantity of sugarcane bagasse is available from sugar mills. Sugarcane bagasse is partly used as fuel at the sugar mill. In the present paper, sugarcane bagasse was burned at 600oC and the ash obtained is known as sugarcane bagasse ash (SCBA) and characterized by using different techniques. SCBA was mixed with OPC in different proportions and the hydration studies were made. Mechanism of hydration has been discussed.