1. Introduction
Flourishing economic development, rapid increase in population, and the vigorous promotion of various public works in Taiwan in recent years have led to the heavy consumption of cement materials. Cement production generates a fair amount of pollution and produces a ton of carbon dioxide for every cubic meter of cement consumed. For the sake of environmental protection, gradually reducing cement consumption and searching for suitable replacements for cement have become burning issues in recent years.
To address the growing amount of pollution in the environment, new combustion technologies were sought, which resulted in the introduction of circulating fluidized bed combustion (CFBC) technology. CFBC has been successfully applied to reuse industry by-products as well as combustible or mixed fuels in circulating fluidized beds (CFB) [
1,
2]. It also was a combustion technology that quickly developed in the last two decades and offers high efficiency and low pollution (less NO
x and SO
2 emissions) [
3,
4]. It offers high efficiency, low pollution, good coal adaptability, strong load adjustment capacity, relatively low costs, and relatively easy-to-grasp technology [
5,
6,
7]. In another aspect, gravel excavation is limited in Taiwan, thereby creating an imbalance in supply and demand. For this reason, developing aggregate alternatives and promoting the utilization of industry by-products can effectively benefit the conservation of limited natural resources and reduce the consumption of raw materials in cement industry.
The ash products of CFB processes are stable and do not leach toxic substances. Thus, they can be used in road paving, soil improvement, and roadbed filling. Depending on where the by-product lime is collected during CFB processes and how they are processed, CFBC ashes can be divided into the following three categories [
8,
9]:
Fly ash (powders): This type of ash is collected using bag filters in CFBs. A yellowish brown powder is mainly comprised of anhydrous calcium sulfate as well as some calcium oxide and calcium hydroxide. Its specific weight is approximately 2.80; 93% of it can pass through a #200 mesh, and its fineness ranges from 2884 cm2/g to 3050 cm2/g. Its primary uses include raw material for soil conditioners, controlled low-strength materials (CLSMs), and plasterboard in addition to being a dehydration curing agent and an alkali activator.
Bed ash (granules): This is collected from the bottoms of boilers. It comprises yellowish brown granules mixed with some black and white impurities. Particle sizes range from 0.6 mm to 0.075 mm, and its specific gravity (g/cm3) and fineness are 3.05 and 1260 cm2/g, respectively. In size, it resembles fine sand, and, in composition, it is close to fly ash. Its primary uses include raw material for by-product lime fertilizers and plasterboard.
Hydrated ash (hydrous): Comprising dark gray caked particles, hydrated ash is the result of CFBC fly ash and bed ash mixed in water for hydration, soaked for roughly 24 h, and then sun-dried. Soaked in water, the anhydrous calcium sulfate is hydrated into gypsum. It has a bulk density between 1200 kg/m3 and 1700 kg/m3, California bearing ratio (CBR) greater than 85%, maximum dry density 1414 kg/m3, expansion rate 0.08%, and optimum water content 28 ± 2%. It is mainly used in aggregate grading and landfill material.
The fuels of CFBC are generally high-sulphur substances. For the sake of desulfurization, large quantities of limestone are added, which means greater sulfur and calcium oxide content. The main products are CaSO
3 and free-CaO [
1]. Anthony (2002) and Qian (2006) [
10,
11] indicated that using free-CaO as the alkali activator of SiO
2 and Al
2O
3 produces C-S-H and C-A-H gels. Excessive amounts of SO
3 and free-CaO in cementitious material systems can have adverse effects on strength development and volume stability. Using cement and fly ash from pulverized coal as cementing material and CaSO
4 as an activator, Poon examined the influence of adding CaSO
4 to cement-fly ash systems on compressive strength [
12]. Test results revealed that adding CaSO
4 had a desirable effect on early strength, especially in systems with greater fly ash content. Furthermore, the amount of ettringite produced increased with the amount of cement replaced by CFBC ash. Sheng discovered that higher f-CaO and SO
3 contents facilitate the formation of ettringite and C-S-H gel and enhance early strength [
13]. Ground CFBC ash has significant impact on cementation, with greater fineness resulting in greater compressive strength [
14,
15]. Desulfurized slag is general industrial waste in Taiwan and classified as a reusable waste by the Environmental Protection Administration [
16]. It is a solid waste produced by the desulphurization of hot metal in blast furnaces at steelworks where iron ore is the primary raw material. At present, the only manufacturer of desulfurized slag in Taiwan is the China Steel Company, which yields roughly 250 thousand tons every year.
Controlled low-strength material (CLSM) is a cementitious material that is mainly used as a backfill for roads or pipelines. It is also defined by American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM) D4832 as “a mixture of soil, cementitious materials, water, and sometimes admixtures, that hardens into a material with a higher strength than the soil but less than 1200 psi” and by ASTM D5971 as “a self compacting, flowable, cementitious material that is primarily used as a backfill or structural fill instead of compacted fill or unsuitable native soil” as well as “a non-flowable compacted material or as a mortar”. According to American Concrete Institute (ACI) 229R, the basic composition of CLSM is Portland cement, fly ash, chemical admixtures, water, aggregates, and non-standard materials. According to ASTM D5971, it is comprised of Portland cement, fly ash, aggregates, water, and chemical admixtures. In practical application in Taiwan, the uses and composition of CLSM are significantly different from those of general concrete, containing coarse and fine aggregates, Portland cement, and water. General concrete is subject to strict restrictions with regard to the particle size distribution of coarse and fine aggregates and organic content. No particular restrictions exist for CLSM, so it can contain recycled aggregates such as discarded brick, blast furnace slag, and foundry sand [
17,
18,
19,
20,
21]. The recycling and reuse of the combined bottom ash could help to alleviate the problem of inadequate landfill space and reduce secondary pollution.
The production of natural aggregate in Taiwan is somewhat limited; therefore, to facilitate energy conservation, environmental protection, and sustainable development, this study used CFBC hydrated ash, coal bottom ash, desulfurized slag, and air-cooled blast furnace slag as fully aggregate replacements and mixed CFBC ash in CLSM and examined their influence on CLSM properties using the slump flow test, the ball drop test, water-soluble chloride ion content, length variations, and the compressive strength test. The progressive strength development observed in this study may have originated from the low reactivity of the calcium source in the CFBC by-product ashes and slags that enabled the formation of reaction products, providing the reactants and increasing the strength of the CLSM materials.
4. Conclusions
This study investigated the application of CFBC hydration ash, combined bottom ash and CFB slag as recycled aggregates in CLSM. The results indicated that the specimens 1D, 2D, 3D, and 4D displayed the highest slump flow because they all contained desulfurized slag, which had a more even particle size distribution than the other types of aggregates. Desulfurized slag has higher chloride ion content; however, the amount of desulfurized slag used must depend on the regulations of where it is being applied to so as to prevent chloride ions from causing rebar corrosion.
CFBC hydrated ash resulted in the greatest compressive strength when paired with desulfurized slag but produced the lowest compressive strength when paired with coal bottom ash. Compressive strength decreased as the proportion of CFBC hydrated ash increased. The specimens all showed compressive strength lower than stipulated by the Construction Commission of the Executive Yuan (8.82 MPa), thereby indicating that the mixtures can be applied to CLSM. In addition, the indentation diameters derived in ball drop tests were all less than 76 mm, thereby meeting CLSM regulations and making the mixtures suitable as backfill for roads.
The primary binder in the mixtures in this study was water-quenched blast furnace slag, and the primary aggregate was CFBC hydrated ash. Both induce volumetric swelling, so the specimens in this study all displayed increased length, which must also be taken into consideration in future engineering applications as a backfill for roads or pipelines. This also reduced the cost of natural aggregates and the need to extract materials from the environment. This CLSM consisted of industrial by-products and recycled materials should be accepted and encouraged as the application of green materials.