A review of waste products utilized as supplements to Portland cement in concrete

Abstract The amendment of concrete with waste products serves as an avenue to decrease the volume of wastes landfilled and to reduce the use of naturally mined materials, therefore, minimizing the footprint and impact that the construction industry has on the environment. This manuscript summarizes the current state of practice with regard to the use of waste products as supplementary cementitious materials (SCM) in portland cement concrete (PCC) and provides a summary of the comparatively sparse information on under-utilized waste materials such as: sugarcane bagasse ash, rice husk ash, waste wood biomass ash, and waste glass. The latter are all waste products that have the potential to be employed alongside traditional SCM, however much of the use to date has been done at the laboratory scale. This document will serve as a guide for the use of non-traditional waste SCM, to highlight areas likely requiring further refinement or research, and to indicate potential negative impacts from utilization of these products that might occur. The beneficial use of waste materials as SCM outside the United States has grown in recent years, mainly out of necessity; however, current research indicates that these materials typically provide a benefit when amending PCC and mortar.