Internal curing of high performance mortars with bottom ash

In Thailand, approximately 9500 tons of bottom ash are produced annually by the boilers of the SCG Paper business within the SCG conglomerate. In an effort to find high-value uses of this industrial waste and to limit landfilling, the internal curing performance of different types of bottom ash, both from stoker and circulating fluidized bed boilers was studied by means of internal relative humidity and autogenous deformation measurements on high-performance mortars. In this application, the bottom ash particles are pre-saturated with water, which is released during cement hydration and contributes to reduce self-desiccation and shrinkage of the mortars.