New Type of Environmentally-Friendly Concrete Made with Sugar Cane Residue

February 18, 2016 – Scientists in Spain and Brazil are working together to find a more environmentally and economically friendly formula for concrete using sugar cane straw ash as a replacement for Portland cement.  Portland cement is the most expensive and least environmentally clean ingredient in concrete.  The use of sugar cane straw is advantageous in both of those ways as well as creating a new use for a by-product that is currently wasted. 

Of the 650 million tons of sugar cane harvested in Brazil each year, 15-20% of that is sugar straw, which is left on the field to decay or burn.  Researchers have designed a bespoke combustion burner, through which the straw is fed and the ashes are collected.  Future research will investigate indicators related to durability of mass and reinforced concrete.

Read the full Science Daily post here.

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